tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82162158886390630022017-09-05T20:08:00.339-07:00Tammy's Frosted MemoriesTammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-61028627084684940472017-07-07T19:08:00.002-07:002017-07-07T20:31:01.525-07:00Aspen/Birch Buttercream Cake TutorialOk, I realize on my last post I said I was going to share my second Eagle Scout cake next, but I'm switching things up a bit. A sweet friend who lives many states over from me asked for some tips on a cake I did a few months back, so, rather than emailing all the photos I took to her, I thought I'd post a little tutorial for it here.<br /><br />As the title above says, the cake was an aspen/birch tree cake. I've actually done several with this theme, both with fondant and buttercream. This was the third time I'd done a buttercream one, and I still had to look up pictures to try and remember what I did the first couple of times. So, Sue, this tutorial is for you, but it's also for me because I don't see the tree trunk design dying out anytime soon and the next time I'm asked to do one, I can look up this post and remember step-by-step!<br /><br />I will start out by saying if I have to do a cake, especially a stacked cake, that is just buttercream (no ganache or fondant), this is the design I would prefer to do. No super smooth edges to worry about!<br /><br />So, this cake has been torted, filled, crumb coated and then a very rough "finish" coat applied. I randomly splotched some gray buttercream over the sides of the cake. (Yes, that is a Trolls cake in the background I had just finished up the night before.)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-urGY7U9rKyU/WWAw3zTNs0I/AAAAAAACGgI/pJvsVD8mz0wkZUWyX1FFmIaK9wpW7moCgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_085533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-urGY7U9rKyU/WWAw3zTNs0I/AAAAAAACGgI/pJvsVD8mz0wkZUWyX1FFmIaK9wpW7moCgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_085533.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />I then ran a spatula around the edges blending the gray into the white. I did NOT worry about getting things super smooth, this is a tree we're making here. Keep it rough. If I found some areas were too dark, I just splotched some white on and smoothed again. Same thing with too light, add a little more gray. This is a pretty forgiving technique.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gnofvexps4w/WWAw4HeuzgI/AAAAAAACGgM/6aKVmO6h_iMyUZ1dUacpdsQbF36vPydKgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_085732.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gnofvexps4w/WWAw4HeuzgI/AAAAAAACGgM/6aKVmO6h_iMyUZ1dUacpdsQbF36vPydKgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_085732.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />I then dipped this paintbrush into some brown airbrush color and dabbed the excess off on a paper towel. I like the airbrush color because it is already thinned down. I simply held the brush against the top of the cake and spun my turntable around making "rings" in the top. (Wow, those are some seriously ugly nails!! Maybe I should have cropped my hands out of this one. 😝)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cY-lbN46kvo/WWAw3-KX2nI/AAAAAAACGgQ/j6_GcsaYxdwZsQnbOolXDkkAmqf1ccwsACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_085841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cY-lbN46kvo/WWAw3-KX2nI/AAAAAAACGgQ/j6_GcsaYxdwZsQnbOolXDkkAmqf1ccwsACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_085841.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Then I used my offset spatula to smooth those rings out a bit. I simply held the spatula still and turned the table again.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dKpOZ2l8lH8/WWAw7szCu8I/AAAAAAACGgY/lQvI2tIgdcceWfthwq7NGupPQoeTYHpKwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_085927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dKpOZ2l8lH8/WWAw7szCu8I/AAAAAAACGgY/lQvI2tIgdcceWfthwq7NGupPQoeTYHpKwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_085927.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />I used a clean paintbrush and ran it along the very edge of the cake top. This created a border between the inside of the trunk and the bark. By holding a crumpled up, clean paper towel on top of the cake and spinning the turn table I was able to get a good texture for the top of the cake. Some of the wrinkles in the towel will dig a little deeper than others giving you a more realistic look.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SniXJBqmmZk/WWAw7kYutNI/AAAAAAACGgU/sE940BHeO4QWpEXjBBbIFxoSBwc0KF0WACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_090030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SniXJBqmmZk/WWAw7kYutNI/AAAAAAACGgU/sE940BHeO4QWpEXjBBbIFxoSBwc0KF0WACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_090030.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Like this. This part may take some practice. I think I re-did the top of this cake twice before I liked the look. The first time I pushed a little too hard. Pretty easy fix though.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zKhE12L0bE0/WWAw78Lx8pI/AAAAAAACGgc/kqGg-lm2C3w0dwU2gzKiKQkRnYipu_4JQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_090115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zKhE12L0bE0/WWAw78Lx8pI/AAAAAAACGgc/kqGg-lm2C3w0dwU2gzKiKQkRnYipu_4JQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_090115.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Here I dipped a paintbrush in the brown airbrush color and ran along that furrow I made along the edge. I had to re-dip the brush in color many times to make it around the cake. Just wipe the excess buttercream from the brush on a paper towel in between dips. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5RndYmTNeJY/WWAw_Iixc2I/AAAAAAACGgg/PzqU_7COGu0NCADyq_GIDNwfQSH70okIQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_090249.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5RndYmTNeJY/WWAw_Iixc2I/AAAAAAACGgg/PzqU_7COGu0NCADyq_GIDNwfQSH70okIQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_090249.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />This, this right here, this little pink tool is my favorite tool ever! I have no idea where I got it or how long I've had it. It may have come from the stash of tools I got from my mom when I first started decorating, but I can probably count on one hand the cakes I've done in the last five years that I haven't used this tool on somewhere. If anyone knows where I can find another I would love to know. If this one ever breaks, there's going to be some serious crying going on here. (Yes, that's one of my previous cakes in the background I was using for inspiration. I can never visualize how these cracks should look.)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aM1ayXJxAJY/WWAw_VwX1yI/AAAAAAACGgo/NAT0uy5-EloFhEC6ETcJ7PeM3GenWLHLQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_090513.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aM1ayXJxAJY/WWAw_VwX1yI/AAAAAAACGgo/NAT0uy5-EloFhEC6ETcJ7PeM3GenWLHLQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_090513.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />I only did the cracks on the top tier for this cake. You could also do some close to an edge for the lower tiers if you'd like.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gYr1GGGJedk/WWAxCI6uEnI/AAAAAAACGgs/jWRFx4QgTHgQDJ_w4GDCZ05qSn_8HAQQwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_090526.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gYr1GGGJedk/WWAxCI6uEnI/AAAAAAACGgs/jWRFx4QgTHgQDJ_w4GDCZ05qSn_8HAQQwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_090526.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Top done.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FxrqRqCWQrU/WWAxCkIlBEI/AAAAAAACGg0/eF2ysikXV8MuGPWNCSyi_0WTleRXwjqjwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_090645.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FxrqRqCWQrU/WWAxCkIlBEI/AAAAAAACGg0/eF2ysikXV8MuGPWNCSyi_0WTleRXwjqjwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20170513_090645.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />To make a few knots on the side, I piped a circle with buttercream. I think I used a tip 8 for this one.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2o7Agf82xXo/WWAxCvm0lII/AAAAAAACGgw/LopKA_vbmjQTkhfa_efiwxzPAW360HLiwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_090728.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2o7Agf82xXo/WWAxCvm0lII/AAAAAAACGgw/LopKA_vbmjQTkhfa_efiwxzPAW360HLiwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20170513_090728.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />I used a clean paint brush to blend the edges into the side of the cake.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UOgfj6UydaI/WWAxD-hrLGI/AAAAAAACGg4/3JTYkm-Cr1MXq_O8u55DRwh58wGvUtpBQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_092300.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UOgfj6UydaI/WWAxD-hrLGI/AAAAAAACGg4/3JTYkm-Cr1MXq_O8u55DRwh58wGvUtpBQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20170513_092300.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Then I used more airbrush color on the brush and just kind of tapped it into the center and a bit on the outside edges.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q50TlRMSE-s/WWAxFCSRyFI/AAAAAAACGg8/hpzChTIyio4_Ry8KRyF9WQGBdliQ4LeHwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_092556.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q50TlRMSE-s/WWAxFCSRyFI/AAAAAAACGg8/hpzChTIyio4_Ry8KRyF9WQGBdliQ4LeHwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20170513_092556.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Guess what? More airbrush color. For this part, it would really help to have some pictures of actual bark in front of you to see the texture and lines. The first tier I did over because the lines were just way too close together.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KAFj-5ql6R8/WWAxFihp58I/AAAAAAACGhA/Fxym54sP6_ohgBTaj7h0UHi7wPnny-FvACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_092601.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KAFj-5ql6R8/WWAxFihp58I/AAAAAAACGhA/Fxym54sP6_ohgBTaj7h0UHi7wPnny-FvACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20170513_092601.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />You're really just brushing long and short lines randomly all over the sides of the cake. After I did most of the straighter lines, I went back and smudged some and made them thicker. I prefer to do that last so I can stagger them out a bit more evenly.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3-SOvbSQ8BM/WWAxGUixtII/AAAAAAACGhE/iD5O4QDi8pYKZwzDex2NWlhVpB3-5G1-gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_093659.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3-SOvbSQ8BM/WWAxGUixtII/AAAAAAACGhE/iD5O4QDi8pYKZwzDex2NWlhVpB3-5G1-gCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20170513_093659.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />There's my favorite pink tool again, carving out initials.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k6cSrmgiPto/WWAxID3BI2I/AAAAAAACGhI/lsgcu4HvE20nKJ4TQ9HDzbRfXjqWlQh7QCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_093859.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k6cSrmgiPto/WWAxID3BI2I/AAAAAAACGhI/lsgcu4HvE20nKJ4TQ9HDzbRfXjqWlQh7QCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20170513_093859.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />And coloring in with the brown.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NjfATdaqTj8/WWA8G4EL81I/AAAAAAACGhc/V7TovwzV6o4B44N6OWFhV1BL5D3wo2GfwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170513_094330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NjfATdaqTj8/WWA8G4EL81I/AAAAAAACGhc/V7TovwzV6o4B44N6OWFhV1BL5D3wo2GfwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170513_094330.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />Here's the finished cake. I was very concerned about how to deliver it. I'm used to ganache and fondant that are pretty sturdy and hold up well at room temp. This one is all buttercream, and I didn't want the cake to start bulging as it sat out. My best thought was to keep it cold, but then I have to worry about condensation. My big fridge is notorious for that. It can melt fondant in a couple of hours on a cake. Don't know why, but it does. I've read many times that keeping the cake in a box will keep it from getting condensation so I thought I'd give it a try. Two of the tiers I was able to put in regular cake carriers, and I found a box to fit the bottom tier that was already on it's serving plate. We kept the tiers in their "boxes" until we reached the reception area where I then stacked and put on the gumpaste flowers. Some of the brown color did come off on my hands as I was stacking it, but it didn't mess up the design. Since I wasn't stacking the cake till I delivered it, I did some practice designs with the flowers on my styrofoam dummies. Once I got the look I liked, I took a picture with my phone for reference. I think it still ended up changing a bit once I stacked the actual cake, but at least I had a starting point.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W1N4NTAu_0c/WWA5fIG73eI/AAAAAAACGhY/VaiJ9a18jWcsWrJ16Oc1bs_MNlBbQTeBQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3870sm1200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W1N4NTAu_0c/WWA5fIG73eI/AAAAAAACGhY/VaiJ9a18jWcsWrJ16Oc1bs_MNlBbQTeBQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_3870sm1200.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I hope this little tutorial can be of help to you. I'm sure I will be referencing it myself someday as this ol' noggin' of mine isn't what it used to be, and remembering things gets harder and harder. 😊 Please comment below and let me know if you have any questions.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-79029996376090853512017-06-26T13:16:00.000-07:002017-06-26T13:17:47.238-07:00Eagle Scout Cake #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hello there!&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Recently I had the pleasure of making 2 Eagle Scout cakes. This is the first one. I was given <a href="http://www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/3010911/eagle-scout-cake" target="_blank">this picture</a> &nbsp;and asked to replicate it. I'm afraid I didn't get any photos with my good camera, just my phone. :o(</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dtHVuAeNKM4/WVFiyAojw7I/AAAAAAACF80/Mfit2Rweh9oPKFFdOceRAdKuXPRo-oWPACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170305_123625wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="380" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dtHVuAeNKM4/WVFiyAojw7I/AAAAAAACF80/Mfit2Rweh9oPKFFdOceRAdKuXPRo-oWPACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170305_123625wm.jpg" width="380" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Decorator's Notes:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Eagle Scout emblem and words were printed on wafer paper and then glued to white modeling chocolate.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The eagle was made with rice crispy treats. I then covered it with a thin layer of melted white chocolate to help it hold it's shape and fill in some of the holes. The face and beak were then fine tuned with modeling chocolate. I used a leaf cutter for the brown feathers and ran a line down the middle of them. I knew they would mostly be covered with the white feathers, so I wasn't too worried about how realistic they were.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_mG2INkuJBc/WVFg_xR9RHI/AAAAAAACF8o/KL-N-SfPyUU-dZZyzeX5dUYFARjgsJUnwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170302_161750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_mG2INkuJBc/WVFg_xR9RHI/AAAAAAACF8o/KL-N-SfPyUU-dZZyzeX5dUYFARjgsJUnwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170302_161750.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Here you can see my inspiration photos. I had pictures of a couple of cakes (one was the main design for this cake) and some real eagles. Gotta love shots of the messy kitchen. :-) I added more white modeling chocolate using the warmth of my hands to blend pieces together, and used veining/dresden tools to mark lines into it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MR5JoSeJVro/WVFg_t49XlI/AAAAAAACF8k/kgaOPb3G3cgnkoBWs_fwfVGdK3czJn7RQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170302_183947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MR5JoSeJVro/WVFg_t49XlI/AAAAAAACF8k/kgaOPb3G3cgnkoBWs_fwfVGdK3czJn7RQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170302_183947.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Here's a close-up of the finished eagle. I used some petal dust to add shading and depth. I like working with modeling chocolate when I know I don't have to do any painting on it. It remains flexible for quite some time so I can continue to manipulate it till I like the results.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ksqpRoim5gM/WVFg_7ZQMNI/AAAAAAACF8s/uvct3zOUBgg6dbWxn3VKZuIIGJp_ksIPACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170302_191112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ksqpRoim5gM/WVFg_7ZQMNI/AAAAAAACF8s/uvct3zOUBgg6dbWxn3VKZuIIGJp_ksIPACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170302_191112.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>We nicknamed this guy Earl. :o) He was fun to make and I'm so glad I got to help make a young man's day a little more special. He deserved it. I will be back next time with Eagle Scout #2.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-68406636972884837332017-04-09T17:33:00.002-07:002017-04-09T17:34:43.719-07:00Masculine Baby Huey CakeHello there! That title doesn't seem to go together, but it does. I was asked to do a cake for a 65th birthday that somehow incorporated the family business and the recipient's nickname--Baby Huey. Since the family business dealt with engines, snowmobiles, motorcycles and chainsaws I knew I wanted something that looked like it could be in a garage. This one definitely made me step out of my comfort zone.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zkZgugRKXJc/WOa1qtiW_mI/AAAAAAACCRk/BB9rrwqp8HgN8ZHVgV2dQNS9BC_nSqbbgCLcB/s1600/IMG_2086wmsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zkZgugRKXJc/WOa1qtiW_mI/AAAAAAACCRk/BB9rrwqp8HgN8ZHVgV2dQNS9BC_nSqbbgCLcB/s640/IMG_2086wmsm.jpg" width="514" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>Decorator Tips</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For the bottom tier, I used a diamond plate impression mat on gray modeling chocolate. The mat wasn't very big, and even though the edges lined up, there would have been a line, but that was fine. I decided to cut the chocolate into rectangles and put them on the cake as panels. Since I used modeling chocolate, it was super easy to lift the rectangle onto the side with little to no stretching. For the "screws", I pushed in an icing tip (I don't remember what size), and then used the end of one of my shaping tools for the straight line. Super easy.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To color it, I started by airbrushing silver on. Modeling chocolate usually doesn't like liquid color on it as it just beads up, but I've found that if I use a super light coat of airbrush color it won't bead up. Then, I went over each panel with different shades of gray and brown petal dust to give it a dirty, rusty kind of look and to emphasize the panels.&nbsp;</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LEPNlL5UbTk/WOa1psjmGRI/AAAAAAACCRY/X0v1qVTxHgwcpf715lpTSv4E1DINHH4fgCLcB/s1600/20161020_152050smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LEPNlL5UbTk/WOa1psjmGRI/AAAAAAACCRY/X0v1qVTxHgwcpf715lpTSv4E1DINHH4fgCLcB/s640/20161020_152050smwm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The middle tier was inspired by a masculine cake I saw online somewhere. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it now. I loved the look of the browns, blacks and silvers brushed along the bottom, kind of looked like grease and grime. I'm not sure those two adjectives have ever been used to describe a cake before.<br /><br />I don't often decorate my boards, but I really wanted to pull out some of the brown from the design so I decided to do a wood grain look. I used a tutorial from <a href="https://evilcakegenius.com/index.php/free-wood-grain-tutorial" target="_blank">Evil Cake Genius</a>. Guys, this is the EASIEST technique ever!! And it's kind of addicting. I wanted to wood-grain a whole cake after doing this. It's super shiny in this photo because it hadn't dried yet. I was kind of sad that most of it ended up being covered by the cake.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TgX2YSXzCVA/WOa1p5M_kRI/AAAAAAACCRc/ZNx5lZ77h_kkPdH5Ln8MztMbty4E6yMFQCLcB/s1600/20161020_163328smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TgX2YSXzCVA/WOa1p5M_kRI/AAAAAAACCRc/ZNx5lZ77h_kkPdH5Ln8MztMbty4E6yMFQCLcB/s640/20161020_163328smwm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />To get the family business on the cake I printed logos from the different brands they were associated with and a copy of their business card onto wafer paper and cutting them out. Not sure if you can read it, but this card is too funny!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NhP53YDtvC0/WOa1qGimUBI/AAAAAAACCRg/XFQOOlV2b7AkHft8bXJUZckclYVKlSw8wCLcB/s1600/IMG_2066wmsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NhP53YDtvC0/WOa1qGimUBI/AAAAAAACCRg/XFQOOlV2b7AkHft8bXJUZckclYVKlSw8wCLcB/s640/IMG_2066wmsm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Oh, I almost forgot about Baby Huey. Do you remember him? I vaguely remember him showing up in a couple of Saturday morning cartoons when I was little. Anyway, he was made with fondant mixed with a little tylose. I printed an image of him, laid that over the rolled out fondant and traced over the lines with a tiny ball tip tool. After cutting him out and letting him dry I colored him with petal dust mixed with lemon extract. Once that dried, I outlined him with black airbrush color. I like how he added a pop of color to an otherwise monochrome-ish cake.<br /><br />Hope you enjoyed my masculine cake. I have a few more to share with you later.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-36647865637850085022017-04-04T13:24:00.001-07:002017-04-04T13:24:22.867-07:00Pretty Pink Peony CakeHello there! How are you this fine spring day? I'm enjoying some slightly warmer weather. I enjoy all the seasons, but this one is especially fun as it seems each day we see something new and green popping its head up. We just covered my flower beds in a fresh layer of mulch and the green stems of the tulips and daffodils peaking through look so vibrant against the red. Of course, this is spring in Wisconsin we're talking about. We're forecasted temps near 70 on Sunday and possible snow on Tuesday. Ah well.<br /><br />While seeing flowers in my garden is still quite a ways off, I did get to enjoy a beautiful one in my kitchen this last week. I don't do sugar flowers often as they are very time consuming, but the results are oh so worth it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TXv39x_Q5i4/WOP1UrJNacI/AAAAAAACCKk/VCmDVLughM07_5rJY_e2iXvh20wXbLOaQCLcB/s1600/IMG_3298-frosted%2Bmemoriessm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TXv39x_Q5i4/WOP1UrJNacI/AAAAAAACCKk/VCmDVLughM07_5rJY_e2iXvh20wXbLOaQCLcB/s640/IMG_3298-frosted%2Bmemoriessm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Isn't it beautiful? Because my cake had gold accents I decided to dip the stamens in gold airbrush color to give them a touch of glam.<br /><br />My friend's mom was turning 50 and they were throwing her a surprise party. My friend asked for a small cake to use as a centerpiece for the party. They were decorating with black and white striped fabric, pink peonies, and gold accents. I managed to fulfill 3 of the 4. To fit the size of my peony, the cake ended up being much larger than expected. Oh well, more cake to eat!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eaQi6srT08M/WOP2AhrbuYI/AAAAAAACCKo/H9BCYyzlMSccmiNK1S5h680C05s33wT8gCLcB/s1600/IMG_3270wmsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eaQi6srT08M/WOP2AhrbuYI/AAAAAAACCKo/H9BCYyzlMSccmiNK1S5h680C05s33wT8gCLcB/s640/IMG_3270wmsm.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><u><span style="font-size: large;">Decorator Tips:</span></u><br /><br />My inspiration for this cake came from the <a href="http://www.delacremestudio.com/blog/2014/12/sparkle-my-heart-cake" target="_blank">Sparkle My Heart cake</a> from <a href="http://www.delacremestudio.com/" target="_blank">De La Creme Creative Studio.</a>&nbsp;I loved the different widths of stripes and that splash of gold right in the middle and since my friend had asked if I'd done any marbled cakes before, I decided to marble the top tier.<br /><br />The black stripes were made from modeling chocolate, and I used the wax-paper transfer technique from <a href="https://jessicaharriscakedesign.com/" target="_blank">Jessica Harris</a> to get them on the cake. That doesn't always work flawlessly for me, but thankfully, modeling chocolate is pretty sturdy and because you use shortening as the glue, it kind of slides around into place if needed. The center strip, however was yellow fondant. I knew I was going to cover it in gold petal dust mixed with lemon extract, and that doesn't work well on modeling chocolate.<br /><br />The topper was done in gumpaste. I printed the number in a font I liked, placed the paper over some rolled-out yellow gumpaste and used a tiny ball tool to trace around the number. That left enough of an impression for me to use as a guide to cut it out with my scalpel blade. Once it was completely dry I brushed some of the gold petal dust/lemon extract mixture over it.<br /><br />The hardest part for me is always the flowers. Not making them, but deciding on how many to use and arranging them. My original idea was to do a bouquet cascading down the right side, then I thought just the large peony with a few buds, and eventually opted for just the single flower with some greenery.<br /><br />All-in-all I think it came out quite nice, and my friend loved it. :o)<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-12417733002039167262016-09-27T13:31:00.001-07:002016-09-27T13:31:05.425-07:00Teddy Bear Baby Shower CakeHello there! Welcome back to my sweet corner of the web. I'd like to share a super cute cake I got to make for a sweet friend a few months ago.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P0wK4CUjm2A/V-rWGdEEofI/AAAAAAAB6pc/QC0OGyCXRG8ktWt1ZHBiAXnxhjS7poUCQCLcB/s1600/IMG_1556smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P0wK4CUjm2A/V-rWGdEEofI/AAAAAAAB6pc/QC0OGyCXRG8ktWt1ZHBiAXnxhjS7poUCQCLcB/s640/IMG_1556smwm.jpg" width="552" /></a></div><br />I loved how this came out. Sometimes the idea in my head manages to come out in sugar, and when that happens, I get all kinds of giddy.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jyERJYZLahg/V-rTra-nFaI/AAAAAAAB6pQ/WMYuh_Ujq9wjmV6JS3O8w2EHu36olHWsgCEw/s1600/IMG_1566wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jyERJYZLahg/V-rTra-nFaI/AAAAAAAB6pQ/WMYuh_Ujq9wjmV6JS3O8w2EHu36olHWsgCEw/s640/IMG_1566wm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />A few cake decorating tips:<br /><br />The teddy bear and clothes were cut from fondant and then colored. I used airbrush colors for the outlining and several shades of petal dust to shade the bear. &nbsp;The fence was also outlined with airbrush color and then shaded with petal dust. The shoes were made from gumpaste using Sharon Wee's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.craftsy.com/class/baby-shoes-step-by-step/5077?_ct=sbqii-sqjuweho-dum&amp;_ctp=12&amp;rceId=1475007631554~9abmtcpf" target="_blank">Baby Shoes class</a>&nbsp;on Craftsy .Fun, fun cake to do.<br /><br />I'd love to say I'll be back in a couple days with another cake, but I'm not going to make any promises. :o)<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-599769706893105372016-03-14T09:15:00.000-07:002016-03-14T09:15:02.777-07:00Pink Barnyard CakeHello there! Here's a quick look at a super cute cake I got to do last weekend. I was originally asked to do a Barnyard cake, and then she called back and asked if I could make it "girly". So, instead of red and primary colors, I went with pink and soft pastels. What do you think?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Y1kooAa32c/Vubgsa7fYHI/AAAAAAABTeM/eeiby1CDevIAC4cBJAl7C0Te8QzMbiyLQ/s1600/IMG_8295crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Y1kooAa32c/Vubgsa7fYHI/AAAAAAABTeM/eeiby1CDevIAC4cBJAl7C0Te8QzMbiyLQ/s640/IMG_8295crop.jpg" width="576" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;I have to give my 12 year old credit since a lot of the design ideas on here were hers. The party hat, birthday banner and picnic blanket as well as some of the color choices were all her ideas.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2jrMRipR2Pg/Vubh7H0JKQI/AAAAAAABTeY/ehhcowQqqQo0y0m1haVST1A8YBnxfz7ig/s1600/IMG_8320crop.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="592" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2jrMRipR2Pg/Vubh7H0JKQI/AAAAAAABTeY/ehhcowQqqQo0y0m1haVST1A8YBnxfz7ig/s640/IMG_8320crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This was a Reeses Peanut Butter cake (chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream). Most of the decorations were made with candy clay. I have found that the best "paint" to use on candy clay is petal dust mixed with a little bit of vegetable oil. I used that to write the name on the pendant. The Birthday banner was made from fondant so I used air brush color straight from the bottle. I used <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgqpCWC-u0k&amp;list=PL9E7C3F1E048012C0" target="_blank">this tutorial</a> to make my sheep. It was a LOT easier using royal frosting for the wool than my usual method of rolling balls of fondant.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">They also wanted a little "smash me" cake for the birthday girl so I made this little cupcake for her.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NaWhp2aAeco/VubizgYmTgI/AAAAAAABTes/hyT46Qr4NCgOHFLLfe4wxSBkRShhERDSQ/s1600/IMG_8309crop.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NaWhp2aAeco/VubizgYmTgI/AAAAAAABTes/hyT46Qr4NCgOHFLLfe4wxSBkRShhERDSQ/s640/IMG_8309crop.jpg" width="604" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So cute, and so fun!&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I think I have a cake free week this week, so I may get a chance to get on here later and post some of the other cakes I've done recently.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Till next time...</div><div style="text-align: left;">God's love and blessings!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-76928828047947372412016-01-18T17:43:00.000-08:002016-01-19T14:15:07.782-08:00The Making of a Minion.Like many other cake decorators out there, I have been asked to do cakes or cupcakes for Minion themed parties a couple of times. Most of them were for cupcakes. Those are pretty straightforward to make and come out super cute.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AX20S1cP1N0/Vp2Go4PdOmI/AAAAAAAAj0o/_1I9gj2EW1c/s1600/IMG_5114.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AX20S1cP1N0/Vp2Go4PdOmI/AAAAAAAAj0o/_1I9gj2EW1c/s400/IMG_5114.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Last summer I was asked to do a Minion cake for a little one. I wasn't exactly sure how to do it, but I kind of mapped it out in my head and figured I would go for it. I took pictures along the way, in case it worked, then I would have these to look back on if I'm asked to do one again. ;-)<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Disclaimer: this is not the only way to make a Minion cake, it's just the way I did it. I started with 3 6 inch tiers and half of a Wilton Sports ball (ignore the chocolate layer, that was for another cake).<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QbAAhjy3fwo/Vp2PiU2uYzI/AAAAAAAAj2w/21Zg-p_xwXw/s1600/IMG_20150715_170013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QbAAhjy3fwo/Vp2PiU2uYzI/AAAAAAAAj2w/21Zg-p_xwXw/s400/IMG_20150715_170013.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I then torted the tiers making 7 total layers of cake. I stacked 4 layers with buttercream in between, inserted 3 bubble tea straws (cut to fit) and placed a 6 inch cake board. I then continued layering cake and buttercream and finished off with the half sphere on top. Do you see that 1/8-1/4 inch space between the edge of the cake and the edge of the boards? You need that. The boards are the guides to help get the ganache nice and smooth. Then this was wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the fridge for a while.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Pn8_SQJg9g/Vp2Pqg9d0QI/AAAAAAAAj28/i6DROaU6I-A/s1600/IMG_20150715_210646.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Pn8_SQJg9g/Vp2Pqg9d0QI/AAAAAAAAj28/i6DROaU6I-A/s400/IMG_20150715_210646.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>After the cake was nice and firm, I covered it with a layer of ganache. Again, using the cardboard as a guide to make it nice and smooth. To smooth out the top I used a piece of flexible plastic. You can see a tutorial very similar to what I do <a href="http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/06/perfectly-spherical-cake/" target="_blank">here</a>. (Look for step 12.)<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2khDh3P1Kjg/Vp2PvmpiVHI/AAAAAAAAj3M/_2SOTzKhppc/s1600/IMG_20150715_214402.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2khDh3P1Kjg/Vp2PvmpiVHI/AAAAAAAAj3M/_2SOTzKhppc/s400/IMG_20150715_214402.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>Then I covered it with fondant. I will say that this step took longer than usual just because it is so tall and it took some maneuvering to get it to the bottom without wrinkles or tearing, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be since the top is rounded and doesn't have any sharp edges to tear it.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uUG4ZgdgfFg/Vp2P2w5eVCI/AAAAAAAAj3Y/xVX9Qyf2RiA/s1600/IMG_20150716_152139.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uUG4ZgdgfFg/Vp2P2w5eVCI/AAAAAAAAj3Y/xVX9Qyf2RiA/s320/IMG_20150716_152139.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>This photo looks funny, but basically I was making a template for his overalls. I wrapped the wax paper around and used my veining tool to mark how high and wide I wanted the front and back to be.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NKnTzbSr2fI/Vp2P9pfb8II/AAAAAAAAj3k/ZJSVdlGKKXc/s1600/IMG_20150716_155317.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NKnTzbSr2fI/Vp2P9pfb8II/AAAAAAAAj3k/ZJSVdlGKKXc/s400/IMG_20150716_155317.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>I attached my template to some rolled out fondant with shortening and cut it out. Here you can see that the front of the overalls is the higher rectangle with the smaller one in the back. I wanted the seam to be where a natural seam would be on the pants.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mjM6fDZYBHc/Vp2QITA4ljI/AAAAAAAAj30/OrflRANS0tA/s1600/IMG_20150716_160856.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mjM6fDZYBHc/Vp2QITA4ljI/AAAAAAAAj30/OrflRANS0tA/s400/IMG_20150716_160856.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The benefit of attaching the fondant to the template is that I could use it to wrap around the cake with less chance of the fondant stretching out of whack.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KHlDTB06r14/Vp2QZLITaXI/AAAAAAAAj4A/ShOWw84UhtI/s1600/IMG_20150716_161502.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KHlDTB06r14/Vp2QZLITaXI/AAAAAAAAj4A/ShOWw84UhtI/s400/IMG_20150716_161502.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I pressed some paper towels to the overalls to give them some fabric texture. I realize now that I could have simply cut out 4 rectangles and placed them on the cake instead of trying to do it all in one shot. I ended up making "seams" where the rectangles met anyway.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NjB12OnX9DI/Vp2QfYDe_FI/AAAAAAAAj4Q/PypEKyPq914/s1600/IMG_20150716_162059.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NjB12OnX9DI/Vp2QfYDe_FI/AAAAAAAAj4Q/PypEKyPq914/s400/IMG_20150716_162059.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>Then I used my veining and stitching tools to add details to the overalls.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13XKhL84J2M/Vp2Q8E6huuI/AAAAAAAAj4k/ZzbbpjpHs2A/s1600/IMG_20150716_162515.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13XKhL84J2M/Vp2Q8E6huuI/AAAAAAAAj4k/ZzbbpjpHs2A/s400/IMG_20150716_162515.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Added straps and a pocket.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1lWQZsDbgM4/Vp2Q_tVT5nI/AAAAAAAAj4w/heqIwcIGa5c/s1600/IMG_20150716_163514.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1lWQZsDbgM4/Vp2Q_tVT5nI/AAAAAAAAj4w/heqIwcIGa5c/s400/IMG_20150716_163514.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>The hands started out looking like balloons.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oZcQYfC_UJ4/Vp2RFDZZZXI/AAAAAAAAj48/sFWM026QqAM/s1600/IMG_20150716_165240.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oZcQYfC_UJ4/Vp2RFDZZZXI/AAAAAAAAj48/sFWM026QqAM/s400/IMG_20150716_165240.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I cut 2 slits and then shortened the 2 side fingers and rounded them out with my hands.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HPeKlDiJyxI/Vp2RJf3zp2I/AAAAAAAAj5I/G0PiZ5R32Nw/s1600/IMG_20150716_165433.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HPeKlDiJyxI/Vp2RJf3zp2I/AAAAAAAAj5I/G0PiZ5R32Nw/s400/IMG_20150716_165433.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Legs and hands attached. Didn't take any photos of the legs or feet in production. The legs are fondant and the feet were modeling chocolate.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lcaoUcWGWII/Vp2RPk13cgI/AAAAAAAAj5Y/9wJJL22eDac/s1600/IMG_20150716_190916.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lcaoUcWGWII/Vp2RPk13cgI/AAAAAAAAj5Y/9wJJL22eDac/s400/IMG_20150716_190916.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>If you are doing this in the summer, do NOT do what I did. I chose to make the black parts of the cake (is. arms, feet, hair) from modeling chocolate because I could use pre-colored wafers and not have to worry about mixing the colors. However, the hair is very thin as you can see. I simply modeled some thin shapes over pieces of raw spaghetti. Modeling chocolate doesn't hold up well in high temperatures, my friends, at least not skinny pieces like that. You can check out my minions new 'do in the last photo.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HJJg6qQV-Ik/Vp2RU4Bl13I/AAAAAAAAj5k/RLmLsh4VFAg/s1600/IMG_20150716_193500.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HJJg6qQV-Ik/Vp2RU4Bl13I/AAAAAAAAj5k/RLmLsh4VFAg/s400/IMG_20150716_193500.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>Anyway, I put on his eye and was totally creeped out for a while. I was seriously worried for a bit. I was going for cute, not creepy.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l18L-HF6CU8/Vp2RbcrH7hI/AAAAAAAAj5w/gF9NOvqLavQ/s1600/IMG_20150716_203807.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l18L-HF6CU8/Vp2RbcrH7hI/AAAAAAAAj5w/gF9NOvqLavQ/s400/IMG_20150716_203807.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>I pressed on to make the goggles. I rolled some gray modeling chocolate about a half inch or more thick and cut straight down with 2 different size round cutters to get the main part of the goggles. I glued some rivets around the edges and 2 doodads (that's the technical term for it, I'm sure) on the sides to "hold" the strap on.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MejLfoncoiQ/Vp2RiYmK5xI/AAAAAAAAj6A/jf-bCaVSEn4/s1600/IMG_20150716_212917.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MejLfoncoiQ/Vp2RiYmK5xI/AAAAAAAAj6A/jf-bCaVSEn4/s400/IMG_20150716_212917.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>Sprayed the whole thing with some Wilton silver spray, let it dry, and inserted a couple of toothpicks in the back to help hold it on the face.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A3yzw5JAU6M/Vp2RnlFfUiI/AAAAAAAAj6Q/7PmZct3584E/s1600/IMG_20150716_213005.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A3yzw5JAU6M/Vp2RnlFfUiI/AAAAAAAAj6Q/7PmZct3584E/s400/IMG_20150716_213005.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>Voila! Added the goggle, strap and hair, and my little guy went from creepy to cute! Whew!!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2cpZ0mTGvbw/Vp2Rsio6W8I/AAAAAAAAj6c/fiSJECAjixM/s1600/IMG_20150717_151244.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2cpZ0mTGvbw/Vp2Rsio6W8I/AAAAAAAAj6c/fiSJECAjixM/s400/IMG_20150717_151244.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>As you can see, my little friend loved her Minion, and his slicked back 'do didn't look too bad. ;-)<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E1RET1-J5X4/Vp2SPpHBAkI/AAAAAAAAj7A/pdKEgkqQcM4/s1600/11210465_1105169552834418_5816342273293026300_n.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E1RET1-J5X4/Vp2SPpHBAkI/AAAAAAAAj7A/pdKEgkqQcM4/s400/11210465_1105169552834418_5816342273293026300_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>What do you think? I'm always excited when the idea in my head actually works. ;-)<br /><br />Well, I've got a cat themed cake to do this week and another Frozen one, so I've got to get busy modeling and baking.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-23696313797290519192016-01-12T12:12:00.000-08:002016-01-13T08:33:59.137-08:00Frozen CakesHello there! Hope you are having a warm, snugly kind of winter. We have had a late winter, but it has finally arrived. It was -32 windchill this morning, so I am currently sipping some hot cocoa and not planning on going anywhere.<br /><br />In honor of our chilly weather, I thought I'd share a few cakes with a popular theme that I've done over the last couple of years.<br /><br />The first one isn't actually a cake, it's just the toppers. I did these for a sweet friend whose husband makes their kid's cakes every year. I shipped these to them (with minimal damage) and he used them on the cake he made. I think this was one of my first times trying to model a specific face. It ain't easy folks, it ain't easy. I hope someday to get my hands on an Elsa doll so I can make a mold of her face, but so far, I haven't seen any the right size for less than $30, and I'm not willing to pay that. If you know of anyone who will let me borrow one for a day or so...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b98koP_IlzA/VpVZcyP8GKI/AAAAAAAAiRk/pBlE2E0MOZM/s1600/IMG_3598.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b98koP_IlzA/VpVZcyP8GKI/AAAAAAAAiRk/pBlE2E0MOZM/s400/IMG_3598.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here she is causing some havoc outside my kitchen window.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-niZsk2tMNHw/VpVZX-7Mh4I/AAAAAAAAiRU/KBjiBudrf6w/s1600/IMG_3598.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xrQV2gheNSA/VpVZXpMM63I/AAAAAAAAiRM/vyrc-Er2RmA/s1600/IMG_20140416_173019.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xrQV2gheNSA/VpVZXpMM63I/AAAAAAAAiRM/vyrc-Er2RmA/s400/IMG_20140416_173019.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This second one I pulled ideas from several other Frozen cakes I'd seen online. Olaf is so fun to make. I made him and the snowflakes from modeling chocolate. The hill behind him is rice crispy treat. I love this snow effect. It looks really cool, and it's super easy to do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zIKsWOtfWsQ/VpVZ27SvqfI/AAAAAAAAiRw/LlqzqprXbLE/s1600/IMG_2045wmsm2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zIKsWOtfWsQ/VpVZ27SvqfI/AAAAAAAAiRw/LlqzqprXbLE/s640/IMG_2045wmsm2.jpg" width="451" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Like most decorators, even us hobbyists, I've been asked to do a couple of Frozen theme cakes, and I think the hardest part is coming up with new ideas. I don't like to do the same things over and over, so for my third one, I opted to hand paint a plaque with Elsa and Anna and make some fun snowflakes to go on top.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ED-3nrmPlw/VpVaw34HGfI/AAAAAAAAiSE/f16cGOR7FMI/s1600/IMG_2736smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jyWNQ6_AD5A/VpVawX1FmyI/AAAAAAAAiSA/bYH5iWJtzOE/s1600/20150122_194141.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jyWNQ6_AD5A/VpVawX1FmyI/AAAAAAAAiSA/bYH5iWJtzOE/s400/20150122_194141.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The large snowflakes were cut from wafer paper and glued to candy sticks. Some of the smaller ones were modeling chocolate cut with a cutter, and some of them were royal icing. I used my Silhouette to cut out several different snowflakes from thin stencil plastic. I laid that on top of some wax paper, spread royal icing over it and then sprinkled edible glitter on top. They were SO sparkly, but also VERY delicate. Thankfully, I made a lot because a lot of them broke.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IZ6qDF7AHdY/VpVa6sX1V8I/AAAAAAAAiSg/aC-ryToGO80/s1600/IMG_2736smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IZ6qDF7AHdY/VpVa6sX1V8I/AAAAAAAAiSg/aC-ryToGO80/s640/IMG_2736smwm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E6PAr9LFQ1c/VpVaxWulkwI/AAAAAAAAiSM/o1P3v-__Z2Q/s1600/IMG_2760smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E6PAr9LFQ1c/VpVaxWulkwI/AAAAAAAAiSM/o1P3v-__Z2Q/s640/IMG_2760smwm.jpg" width="460" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What do you think? Which one is your favorite? Have you ever modeled a specific face before? I hope it gets easier as I do it. Well, I think it's time for me to go get another cup of hot cocoa. :o)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Till next time...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">God's love and blessings!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b3v7n5SL4fs/VpVSbgXleKI/AAAAAAAAiPg/wNL9GJTK7xE/s1600/IMG_7675.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a></div>Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-71655271290096698902015-08-31T19:18:00.000-07:002015-08-31T19:18:32.499-07:00Hat Box Cake ClassHello there! How are you doing? We are enjoying the last few days of our summer vacation. Definitely enjoyed having my handsome hubby home the last few months. <br /><br />I posted this to my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frosted-Memories/546516588699720?ref=hl">Facebook</a> page, but I'd thought I'd share here as well. I'm offering a class to learn how to make this hat box cake.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aXiYJnJEfOE/VeUJPPLGgjI/AAAAAAAAW-g/Z3uBNPpmqlQ/s1600/IMG_4318smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aXiYJnJEfOE/VeUJPPLGgjI/AAAAAAAAW-g/Z3uBNPpmqlQ/s400/IMG_4318smwm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I thought this was a good design to start with. We'll do everything except bake the cake (I'll have that part already done). We'll torte, fill, and ganache the cake. We'll use home made fondant to cover it and then use a mixture of fondant and gumpaste to make the flower, jewelry and bow.<br /><br />All supplies will be provided for use at the class and you will go home with a beautifully decorated 6" cake, recipes and the know how to do this yourself.<br /><br />I have 2 different class options:<br /><br />Class A: September 17th and 18th 6-9 each night. Cost: $80<br />Class B: September 19th 9am-4pm Cost: $80 (plus money for lunch)<br /><br />Space is limited. Please leave a comment if you're interested and I will get back to you.<br /><br />Thanks for all the encouragement I get. It's been such a blessing.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!<br /><br /><br />Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-81073406370479663452015-06-24T13:58:00.001-07:002015-06-24T13:59:10.224-07:00Giraffe Baby Shower CakeHello there! It's been quite a while. Thought I'd stop in quick and share this cake I did quite a while ago. The mother-to-be LOVES giraffes and the color green, so the design of the cake was pretty easy to figure out.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-39mzNqV1VS4/VYsYlLyhnTI/AAAAAAAARtU/Txp-NMZ5WWw/s1600/IMG_0911smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-39mzNqV1VS4/VYsYlLyhnTI/AAAAAAAARtU/Txp-NMZ5WWw/s400/IMG_0911smwm.jpg" width="376" /></a></div>The giraffes were modeled from a 50/50 gumpaste/fondant mix and then hand painted and dusted. The ribbon border was also hand painted.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yUwDbc7caFY/VYsYlHviYyI/AAAAAAAARtY/TnS_Ftum-Jc/s1600/IMG_0917smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yUwDbc7caFY/VYsYlHviYyI/AAAAAAAARtY/TnS_Ftum-Jc/s400/IMG_0917smwm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What do you think? I was kind of sad to see these two beauties go, but glad they were able to make the celebration a little sweeter. ;o)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Till next time...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">God's love and blessings!</div>Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-58038788189243804572015-05-05T19:44:00.001-07:002015-05-05T19:45:21.560-07:00Spring flowersHello there! I am back for a quick minute. I'm so sorry it's been so long. Lots of life going on here. The kitchen remodel is 99% finished. There's still some trim work to do and I need to find some fabric for window coverings, but otherwise, it's up and fully operational. I am LOVING it!! Unfortunately, I've been so busy I haven't taken the time to get some decent photos of it. I will do my best to get that done soon, but May is super jam-packed with oodles and oodles of things going on, to include a trip to see family and quite a few graduation cakes to make. Could someone please add an extra day to my weeks? I could really use it.<br /><br />Anyway, I didn't have many cakes to make in March and April, but I did make this one for a church get-together a couple of weeks ago.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7xK3kNHlJV8/VUl7R69MudI/AAAAAAAARrI/3ix5261s9m0/s1600/IMG_4306smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7xK3kNHlJV8/VUl7R69MudI/AAAAAAAARrI/3ix5261s9m0/s1600/IMG_4306smwm.jpg" height="640" width="436" /></a></div><br />I designed it to match the programs we made for the event. I printed the verse on wafer paper and cut it out. I then used a paper towel as an "ink" pad. I simply folded it up and put a couple drops of airbrush color on it. I then used a clean stamp set and stamped the flowers onto wafer paper and used the coordinating punches to punch them out. I've linked below to the stamps and punches I used. I found that I could shape the large petal by running a bone folder over it just as I would a paper flower. The smaller flowers were shaped by brushing a small amount of water at the base of each petal. As the wafer paper dried, it curled up a bit, giving the flowers some dimension. I then piped royal frosting dots all around and in the center of each flower. Once that dried, I brushed each one with gold airbrush paint. Oh, and the gold color at the top and bottom was sprayed on using Wilton gold spray. I don't have an airbrush...yet. :o)<br /><br />I need to close this here. Hope you are having a wonderful week and get a chance to enjoy something sweet. ;o)<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!<br /><br /><div><div><span style="color: #333333; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; margin: 3px 16px;">Built for Free Using: <a href="https://www.mystampinblog.com/" style="color: #333333; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">My Stampin Blog</a></span><br /><div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div><div id="95ce80a8-8cff-44cb-8aaa-5bed3dc2e343"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="iframe-showcase" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.mystampinblog.com/Showcase/Details/cc99dfed-f39b-4646-bbd3-edd9c342b24a?layout=Tiled&amp;showSku=True&amp;showPrice=True&amp;showDownload=True&amp;transparent=False&amp;bordered=True&amp;hFontHeight=14&amp;rFontHeight=13&amp;imageHeight=120" style="width: 100%;"></iframe></div><script src="https://www.mystampinblog.com/Script/ShowcaseDetailsScript"></script></div></div>Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-60117358314439174892015-03-10T15:23:00.000-07:002015-03-10T15:23:29.521-07:00It's Really Quiet Over Here. Hello there! The title is a bit misleading. It's a little quiet here on the blog, but that's because it's anything but quiet in my kitchen.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u3Q8l8DY2Is/VP9tWL3JnII/AAAAAAAARoY/zfbmfdVNqqs/s1600/the%2Bhole%2B(24).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u3Q8l8DY2Is/VP9tWL3JnII/AAAAAAAARoY/zfbmfdVNqqs/s1600/the%2Bhole%2B(24).jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>We've taken on a bit of a kitchen remodeling project, so my cakes have been on hold for a bit. I promise to be back with more cakes, and some "before" and "after" shots of the kitchen. We're about 80% done now. Just waiting for the new counter to come in and to do some trim work.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>I will say that I am over-the-moon happy with the results so far. I no longer feel like I'm imprisoned in the tower all alone. I can't really call it the dungeon since it's on the second floor of our house (don't ask, I have no idea what the designer was thinking when they built this house), but I did feel very closed off from everyone else.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I will be back, hopefully, later this week.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Till next time...</div><div>God's love and blessings!&nbsp;</div>Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-62827707463475219392015-01-27T19:32:00.000-08:002015-01-27T19:33:29.697-08:00Forest for the TreesHello again. I wanted to share 2 wedding cakes I've made recently with a tree theme to them, but then I remembered another tree themed cake...and then another. I didn't realize how many cakes I've made with some kind of tree on them.<br /><br />Here's the two wedding cakes.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VZ1ZGKmju74/VMhQ1wcb8wI/AAAAAAAARds/JEvP86cc7tU/s1600/IMG_3697wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VZ1ZGKmju74/VMhQ1wcb8wI/AAAAAAAARds/JEvP86cc7tU/s1600/IMG_3697wm.jpg" height="400" width="237" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2rBdAsXAtIw/VMhRPkPZ0NI/AAAAAAAARd8/JXOQ7SqY9Jc/s1600/20130601_140458wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2rBdAsXAtIw/VMhRPkPZ0NI/AAAAAAAARd8/JXOQ7SqY9Jc/s1600/20130601_140458wm.jpg" height="400" width="280" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As you can see, they both had an aspen theme to them. I made the toppers for both cakes. The birds were gumpaste. The legs and veil were not edible though.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oX31Yg_1_fs/VMhWUkWRcII/AAAAAAAARfI/yx585oXJgE4/s1600/IMG_3699wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oX31Yg_1_fs/VMhWUkWRcII/AAAAAAAARfI/yx585oXJgE4/s1600/IMG_3699wm.jpg" height="285" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I had help from the bride's sister in making the bottom cake. We had to experiment to figure out a way to make pine cones. It ended up being a lot easier than I thought they would be. Next time I have to make pine cones, I will take pictures so I can show you how I did it. The hat and veil weren't edible on this one either. While I like both of these, I think I can get better at the aspen bark texture.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YlCtaSHQGX4/VMhWo8pXvGI/AAAAAAAARfQ/DQGzMqZWF64/s1600/IMG_7476sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YlCtaSHQGX4/VMhWo8pXvGI/AAAAAAAARfQ/DQGzMqZWF64/s1600/IMG_7476sm.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a couple of birthday cakes with trees in them:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ydGH9qkS0e8/VMhSehcF6yI/AAAAAAAAReI/Jb52xfOBEsM/s1600/IMG_2106wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ydGH9qkS0e8/VMhSehcF6yI/AAAAAAAAReI/Jb52xfOBEsM/s1600/IMG_2106wm.jpg" height="400" width="286" /></a></div><br /><br />This next one I made for my handsome hubby. He loved Guardians of the Galaxy so I had to make him a little Groot.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NbfLTeyvJuc/VMhSuahMRnI/AAAAAAAAReg/XolVR46o2ys/s1600/IMG_2272smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NbfLTeyvJuc/VMhSuahMRnI/AAAAAAAAReg/XolVR46o2ys/s1600/IMG_2272smwm.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div><br />This one doesn't necessarily have a tree on it, but I had a lot of fun learning how to make a nice "wood plank" base for the cake to sit on.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ocwqYf6IQjE/VMhSqf4mufI/AAAAAAAAReQ/worOkP3eScg/s1600/IMG_1081smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ocwqYf6IQjE/VMhSqf4mufI/AAAAAAAAReQ/worOkP3eScg/s1600/IMG_1081smwm.jpg" height="400" width="343" /></a></div><br />I used <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgmmcXDHq1c" target="_blank">this tutorial</a>&nbsp;by Elisa Strous to make it. I think it came out pretty nice, and to be honest, it was really fun to do.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3CPV5fGX4ZY/VMhSqtFEaqI/AAAAAAAAReU/j0lhR1RRAGM/s1600/IMG_20140828_172338smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3CPV5fGX4ZY/VMhSqtFEaqI/AAAAAAAAReU/j0lhR1RRAGM/s1600/IMG_20140828_172338smwm.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div><br />This is still one of my favorite cakes of all time. LOVE!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__MadU8QxAw/VMhS1wYXGwI/AAAAAAAAReo/nPBw___r8fA/s1600/IMG_7976wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__MadU8QxAw/VMhS1wYXGwI/AAAAAAAAReo/nPBw___r8fA/s1600/IMG_7976wm.jpg" height="400" width="293" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This next cake was for a fall get-together at our church, and I taught a class on it. That was a lot of fun, but next time, we're making the owl from modeling chocolate. We made them from fondant, but our little owls kept getting shorter and fatter as the class went on since fondant takes such a long time to harden. It was quite funny as we kept squishing their little bodies to lift them back up again. ;o)&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6wxtbsH7Lvg/VMhUheLaAjI/AAAAAAAARe0/REit-TX7OwA/s1600/IMG_1761.smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6wxtbsH7Lvg/VMhUheLaAjI/AAAAAAAARe0/REit-TX7OwA/s1600/IMG_1761.smwm.jpg" height="400" width="396" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And finally, here's a cute baby shower cake for one of my hubby's co-worker's daughter. The animals were based off the invitation for the party that I believe were designed by the teenage nephew of the mom-to-be. Very talented young man there. Aren't they adorable?&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8SoYP-rFxRI/VMhVW_VzVLI/AAAAAAAARe8/1QhB0RUoNqo/s1600/IMG_0628smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8SoYP-rFxRI/VMhVW_VzVLI/AAAAAAAARe8/1QhB0RUoNqo/s1600/IMG_0628smwm.jpg" height="400" width="368" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Looks like I've shared a forest full of trees, or maybe it was a jungle. :o)&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Till next time...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">God's love and blessings!</div>Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-41355629256743285972015-01-10T17:40:00.002-08:002015-01-10T17:42:30.118-08:00Alice in WonderlandHello there! I'm enjoying a nice chilly day here in the north, all snuggled up inside and sipping some hot cocoa. I've been working on my computer and trying to organize and back up photos and realize I have a LOT of them I haven't shared on here. I must remedy that. I think I will start with these photos of my nephew's wedding back in May, mostly because the finished pictures were taken outside with lots of warm sunshine. ;o)<br /><br />My nephew and his lovely bride were having a themed wedding, and in case you didn't figure it out from the title of this post, it was an Alice in Wonderland theme. My head was about to explode with all the different ideas going on in there. So many fun things in that story to re-enact on a cake; the Mad Hatter, rabbits, playing cards, flowers, tea cups and pots, roses, etc. Did I mention they wanted 200 cupcakes to go with the main cake? That's a lot of modeling chocolate fun right there!<br /><br />I actually took several in-progress shots for this cake because I worked on it over quite a long time. My nephew doesn't live near me, in fact he lives several states away so I knew I was going to have to ship something there as I wouldn't be able to transport it all on the plane and it needed extra time to get there. I couldn't ship my tools since I would need them, so that meant shipping the cupcake toppers. I've seen other decorators that sell their cupcake toppers online and ship them. I've shipped an Elsa and Olaf topper and didn't have too much trouble, I thought these wouldn't be too bad. I thought wrong. ;o( More on that later.<br /><br />Here's the beginning of my tea pot.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fwuLCeqyTmY/VLHJs7a_b4I/AAAAAAAARUc/X096YQV1vgw/s1600/alicewonderland17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fwuLCeqyTmY/VLHJs7a_b4I/AAAAAAAARUc/X096YQV1vgw/s1600/alicewonderland17.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>Not too bad, but I wish I'd spent more time with the royal frosting undercoat to smooth out the rice crispy bumps better.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SqiAc9dAbMA/VLHJmdK51cI/AAAAAAAARUM/ydjmak66siw/s1600/alicewonderland18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SqiAc9dAbMA/VLHJmdK51cI/AAAAAAAARUM/ydjmak66siw/s1600/alicewonderland18.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's the gumpaste tea cup to go with the tea pot.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e1ownv0ri2A/VLHSWtFGm1I/AAAAAAAARU4/IRL9sltauGg/s1600/Alice%2Bin%2Bwonderland%2B(60).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e1ownv0ri2A/VLHSWtFGm1I/AAAAAAAARU4/IRL9sltauGg/s1600/Alice%2Bin%2Bwonderland%2B(60).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's some of the little details I was able to make ahead. Loved the door knob.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JzsCEGprIkw/VLHJkQ1Q3_I/AAAAAAAART0/pi-4zk1kLmo/s1600/alicewonderland16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JzsCEGprIkw/VLHJkQ1Q3_I/AAAAAAAART0/pi-4zk1kLmo/s1600/alicewonderland16.jpg" height="400" width="375" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bunny butt! Sorry, that's just too fun to say. ;o) Did you notice my "butter"fly?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mBesK7KXrZA/VLHJmq9OV6I/AAAAAAAARUQ/svGWg5qxI5A/s1600/alicewonderland19.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mBesK7KXrZA/VLHJmq9OV6I/AAAAAAAARUQ/svGWg5qxI5A/s1600/alicewonderland19.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>Here are some of the cupcake toppers before I mailed them off. Everything is made from modeling chocolate.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kl7aiHkIBCI/VLHJeiKNttI/AAAAAAAARS0/-X4pe5gzxlU/s1600/alicewonderland05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kl7aiHkIBCI/VLHJeiKNttI/AAAAAAAARS0/-X4pe5gzxlU/s1600/alicewonderland05.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>Here's some more. Unfortunately, they didn't look like this when they arrived. They looked more like a pile of green and white confetti. The watches and keys arrived fine, but I spent a frantic day recreating hats and roses.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O3cszqhF_Fo/VLHJgJFsYpI/AAAAAAAARTE/t-z5pFZ39xM/s1600/alicewonderland07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O3cszqhF_Fo/VLHJgJFsYpI/AAAAAAAARTE/t-z5pFZ39xM/s1600/alicewonderland07.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;Here's the items I took as a carry-on on the plane. They arrived just fine. :o)<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ypS712tXqmU/VLHJfa1OmDI/AAAAAAAARS8/O7NuvmzRXpg/s1600/alicewonderland06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ypS712tXqmU/VLHJfa1OmDI/AAAAAAAARS8/O7NuvmzRXpg/s1600/alicewonderland06.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;Here are the toppers on their cupcakes. Drink Me bottles...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eVLPWU2RMAw/VLHJkX0LEwI/AAAAAAAART4/UcYTAD7sEwI/s1600/alicewonderland15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eVLPWU2RMAw/VLHJkX0LEwI/AAAAAAAART4/UcYTAD7sEwI/s1600/alicewonderland15.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;hats...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-btGsKxRr67g/VLHJjG112MI/AAAAAAAARTo/Rs0min_M7pI/s1600/alicewonderland12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-btGsKxRr67g/VLHJjG112MI/AAAAAAAARTo/Rs0min_M7pI/s1600/alicewonderland12.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;keys...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wi-jP5RDj5E/VLHJisIwjGI/AAAAAAAARTg/FsowOGU5bRc/s1600/alicewonderland11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wi-jP5RDj5E/VLHJisIwjGI/AAAAAAAARTg/FsowOGU5bRc/s1600/alicewonderland11.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;flowers with faces...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ODERKEORHvc/VLHJhQj4GkI/AAAAAAAARTU/rpxB06ivt-M/s1600/alicewonderland09.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ODERKEORHvc/VLHJhQj4GkI/AAAAAAAARTU/rpxB06ivt-M/s1600/alicewonderland09.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;pocket watches...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k0Gf4aNn3jQ/VLHJg8gRs_I/AAAAAAAARTM/7ricyr8qaJY/s1600/alicewonderland08.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k0Gf4aNn3jQ/VLHJg8gRs_I/AAAAAAAARTM/7ricyr8qaJY/s1600/alicewonderland08.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;and roses. The idea in my head didn't look this gruesome though. Does anyone else see blood instead of paint? Yuck!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K5w9hPbYXh0/VLHJiJoU-zI/AAAAAAAARTc/IKSLgJPZITo/s1600/alicewonderland10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K5w9hPbYXh0/VLHJiJoU-zI/AAAAAAAARTc/IKSLgJPZITo/s1600/alicewonderland10.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>And here's the main cake all put together.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQpLAgRyjiY/VLHPLEQZ0BI/AAAAAAAARUs/yK0U1W9tpaU/s1600/alicewonderland20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQpLAgRyjiY/VLHPLEQZ0BI/AAAAAAAARUs/yK0U1W9tpaU/s1600/alicewonderland20.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>&nbsp;Unfortunately I didn't get any super great shots of the cake before it was set up outside. While outside lighting can make for some great photos, the dinner buffet in the background didn't make such a great backdrop for it.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gZF9TxK9zlA/VLHJdDs8JmI/AAAAAAAARSY/-GnOx9ZSnic/s1600/alicewonderland03.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gZF9TxK9zlA/VLHJdDs8JmI/AAAAAAAARSY/-GnOx9ZSnic/s1600/alicewonderland03.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;Here's a few close-ups. This cake really had a LOT of stuff going on. You couldn't get it all in one photo. Here's the teacup, butterfly, Cheshire cat, part of the door knob, some of the singing flowers, and you can just see the "drink me" bottle behind the teacup.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XQsVJ0UAU1o/VLHTICDSyBI/AAAAAAAARVA/0PXduFkNYBs/s1600/Alice%2Bin%2Bwonderland%2B(22).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XQsVJ0UAU1o/VLHTICDSyBI/AAAAAAAARVA/0PXduFkNYBs/s1600/Alice%2Bin%2Bwonderland%2B(22).jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's some more of the flowers, a playing card with his can of paint, and oh look, a bunny butt! Sorry. I couldn't help myself. Tee-hee. Now the roses on here don't look quite as gruesome as the ones of the cupcakes did.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-awUaYa79UaE/VLHJc7DizfI/AAAAAAAARSU/m44vDPkQyhs/s1600/alicewonderland01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-awUaYa79UaE/VLHJc7DizfI/AAAAAAAARSU/m44vDPkQyhs/s1600/alicewonderland01.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;And, the precarious teapot with still more flowers and the pocket watch.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SAf1N1wK588/VLHJePlwHAI/AAAAAAAARSs/MbByUSlWKPs/s1600/alicewonderland04.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SAf1N1wK588/VLHJePlwHAI/AAAAAAAARSs/MbByUSlWKPs/s1600/alicewonderland04.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>All-in-all this was a really fun cake to make. A lot of time and work, a lot of things I would do differently next time, but a lot of fun too, and I'm so glad I was able to do this as a gift to my nephew and his new bride.<br /><br />It looks like my mug is empty. Time to go get a refill. I will try and get on here next week and share another cake or two with you.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-57556537593477877312015-01-03T19:49:00.000-08:002015-01-10T17:41:49.174-08:00My Son's Wedding cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hello there and Happy New Year! I enjoy looking back over the year to see all the fun cakes I was able to make. I will try and share my favorites with you over the next couple of weeks.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We had 3 family weddings last year that I got to make the cakes for. I have found that there are 2 extra benefits to making cakes for family get-togethers: there are volunteers to help with the cake, and extra (clean) hands to take photos of the process. So, I have more than just the finished shot to share with you today.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here I am putting ganache on the top tier. (I look so serious.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uljUF_n6z08/VKgaxSOlE4I/AAAAAAAARK8/F_YiE0qyNEs/s1600/Nickweddingblog1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uljUF_n6z08/VKgaxSOlE4I/AAAAAAAARK8/F_YiE0qyNEs/s1600/Nickweddingblog1.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>My gorgeous sister helping to cut out flowers...LOTS of flowers.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4zHwo6p2pa0/VKgaxA6_1PI/AAAAAAAARK4/e8xfcj9Uo48/s1600/Nickweddingblog2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4zHwo6p2pa0/VKgaxA6_1PI/AAAAAAAARK4/e8xfcj9Uo48/s1600/Nickweddingblog2.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>Attaching the wafer paper butterflies.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a4LnuwLaVD0/VKgaxunTYsI/AAAAAAAARLA/0sihasDSQlI/s1600/Nickweddingblog3.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a4LnuwLaVD0/VKgaxunTYsI/AAAAAAAARLA/0sihasDSQlI/s1600/Nickweddingblog3.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This was a little surprise on the back of the cake for my son from his bride. How do yo hide a Tardis?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iJlflwRiSnc/VKgazGYyQpI/AAAAAAAARLY/IdLIY25FT2o/s1600/Nickweddingblog5.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iJlflwRiSnc/VKgazGYyQpI/AAAAAAAARLY/IdLIY25FT2o/s1600/Nickweddingblog5.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>The topper was the bride's grandmother's. We removed the silk leaves and trailed the vine and butterflies across it.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p0ErKHojioM/VKgax-NLfaI/AAAAAAAARLI/dzxU5-fm7-8/s1600/Nickweddingblog4.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p0ErKHojioM/VKgax-NLfaI/AAAAAAAARLI/dzxU5-fm7-8/s1600/Nickweddingblog4.jpg" height="400" width="211" /></a></div>This is the only good shot I got of it completely finished. I had forgotten the pearls in the photo above.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-30mcDdzHPiE/VKgaz4gfsZI/AAAAAAAARLk/c6V9rghw1ms/s1600/Nickweddingblog7.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-30mcDdzHPiE/VKgaz4gfsZI/AAAAAAAARLk/c6V9rghw1ms/s1600/Nickweddingblog7.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>I don't usually get to see the bride and groom's reactions to the cake. This is when he saw the Tardis on the back.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qbInx_OqCmk/VKgazUVHNQI/AAAAAAAARLg/JKOICzaX8Oo/s1600/Nickweddingblog6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qbInx_OqCmk/VKgazUVHNQI/AAAAAAAARLg/JKOICzaX8Oo/s1600/Nickweddingblog6.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aren't they a cute couple?</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And, cutting the cake. They work well together. ;o)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gQJFOoySbvw/VKgcFGg0I1I/AAAAAAAARL0/UplHHj5BknM/s1600/IMG_3014.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gQJFOoySbvw/VKgcFGg0I1I/AAAAAAAARL0/UplHHj5BknM/s1600/IMG_3014.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hopefully, you will be seeing more posts on here in the future. Part of my preparation for the new year was to re-organize my planner and I put a section in with what will, hopefully, be a better system for me to sit down and write some posts out. Rather than just listing different things I'd like to share, I printed a calendar and put those ideas on specific dates. I hope it works. :o)&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, till next time...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">God's love and blessings!</div><br />Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-26900803443665477102014-12-26T18:12:00.002-08:002014-12-26T18:13:22.792-08:00Poinsettia Candle CakeWow, I can't believe Christmas is over for 2014 already. I purposely didn't make many cakes this month because I wanted to be able to focus more on my family and other projects. I did, however make a cake for our church get-together at the beginning of the month, and finally have time to sit down and share it with you.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NsCa7PMpIeo/VJ4PGh8zDTI/AAAAAAAARAQ/MBvHj4C2gUQ/s1600/IMG_2098smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NsCa7PMpIeo/VJ4PGh8zDTI/AAAAAAAARAQ/MBvHj4C2gUQ/s1600/IMG_2098smwm.jpg" height="400" width="270" /></a></div>What do you think? I was so excited when the idea in my head, came out in sugar. It doesn't always happen that way.<br /><br />I used <a href="http://www.mcgreevycakes.com/2014/01/14/edible-candles-silver-leaf-tutorials/" target="_blank">this tutorial</a>&nbsp;by <a href="http://www.mcgreevycakes.com/" target="_blank">Shawna McGreevy</a> to make the candles. They are essentially rice crispy treats covered in modeling chocolate with a birthday candle inserted in the middle. I don't have cutters for the poinsettia flower though, so I looked at lots of pictures, drew out 7 different size "leaves" and hand cut 4 of each in red and 5 more of the largest one in green. Hopefully the next time I get to make this flower I will have time to photograph, or even video tape the process so I can share a little tutorial with you.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AKz3R6xP5r0/VJ4PG32pRpI/AAAAAAAARAU/Kg_RQmj2wRw/s1600/IMG_2107wmsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AKz3R6xP5r0/VJ4PG32pRpI/AAAAAAAARAU/Kg_RQmj2wRw/s1600/IMG_2107wmsm.jpg" height="301" width="400" /></a></div><br />It's hard to see in the pictures, but there's a sparkly, tone-on-tone flourish around the cake. I made a paint with petal dust and lemon extract and then stippled that on the side of the cake using a stencil. The snowflakes were cut using PME cutters. I wish I'd had more time to do this as I would have made the snowflakes a bit sparkly too.<br /><br />Here's a picture of it at church with the candles lit. So fun!!!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nJI7did6Bo8/VJ4T236LiWI/AAAAAAAARAk/Hd-Sq8T8eEU/s1600/IMG_2111smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nJI7did6Bo8/VJ4T236LiWI/AAAAAAAARAk/Hd-Sq8T8eEU/s1600/IMG_2111smwm.jpg" height="400" width="271" /></a></div><br />I guess that's it for now. I have a bit of a relaxed schedule this next two weeks, so hopefully I'll be able to post a few more of my cakes from this last year.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-10342021895765323222014-09-02T12:35:00.001-07:002014-10-02T12:22:51.195-07:00Wafer Paper Mini Book TutorialHello there! Welcome to my sweet little corner of the web again. Today I am going to share with you a fun tutorial for making mini books. These are great for cupcake toppers, and I thought they were rather appropriate with everyone in this house heading back to school this week.<br /><br />I recently made this storybook cake for a baby shower:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0KK4MuBZXug/VAUf0FCtKwI/AAAAAAAAQGI/LvL0GJ1_Z8k/s1600/IMG_0845smwmps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0KK4MuBZXug/VAUf0FCtKwI/AAAAAAAAQGI/LvL0GJ1_Z8k/s1600/IMG_0845smwmps.jpg" height="419" width="640" /></a></div>Along with some matching cupcakes.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j-ad69jEJvs/VAUfzLHXZsI/AAAAAAAAQGA/ulyGDH_Zy0k/s1600/IMG_0829smwm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j-ad69jEJvs/VAUfzLHXZsI/AAAAAAAAQGA/ulyGDH_Zy0k/s1600/IMG_0829smwm.jpg" height="435" width="640" /></a></div><br />Since this was the second time I've made these books, and I had a lot of questions about how I made them the first time, I took pictures as I worked so I could write up a tutorial. Hope it makes sense. :o)<br /><br />The first couple of steps I don't have pictures for, sorry. I went to the library and checked out books that I wanted to use. Then I scanned each side of them, including the spine, into my computer and used PhotoShop to put the pieces together. Then I laid them out in a document to fit as many as I could on a sheet of wafer paper at about the size I wanted them to be. I actually could have made them a bit smaller and they would have looked fine. The next step was to use my edible printer to print the book covers onto wafer paper.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5-aAKCNRZoA/VAUgETI_OdI/AAAAAAAAQGQ/gj4jefcWWpA/s1600/IMG_0778sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5-aAKCNRZoA/VAUgETI_OdI/AAAAAAAAQGQ/gj4jefcWWpA/s1600/IMG_0778sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Once they are dry to the touch, you need to cut them out. I used a paper cutter, but you could easily use scissors for this as well. Then I measured the size I wanted for the pages and cut them with the paper cutter as well. Now, my inside pages were blank. You could print these as well, but that was WAY more work than I was willing to do. I liked that I could stack a couple of sheets and cut them at the same time. This was also a good way to use some of my wafer paper that got kind of crushed in transit to my house. (You can see the torn corner on this one.)<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jEVRA6K18_8/VAUgEm-SqLI/AAAAAAAAQGU/oki33Agpk4o/s1600/IMG_0779sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jEVRA6K18_8/VAUgEm-SqLI/AAAAAAAAQGU/oki33Agpk4o/s1600/IMG_0779sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>The next step is to glue the pages together. I used a paint brush to apply piping gel just to the "spine" edge of the paper and then stacked another one on top. I think I did 6-8 pages/book. Depending on the spine, you could do more, but these were children's books, so they're not very thick.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3LqR1ySjFu0/VAUgFefY3pI/AAAAAAAAQGg/rneOI129j84/s1600/IMG_0786sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3LqR1ySjFu0/VAUgFefY3pI/AAAAAAAAQGg/rneOI129j84/s1600/IMG_0786sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Now, back to the covers. You need to roll out some fondant. I think I went to 3 or 4 on my KitchenAid pasta roller. (LOVE my pasta roller!) You could go thinner if you'd like. Once rolled out, I used piping gel all over the backside of the book covers and "glued" them to the fondant. Then I used an exact-o knife to cut around the edges. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tdYWTgtRlXg/VAUgF9m6SnI/AAAAAAAAQGw/e_KCRjxUru4/s1600/IMG_0790sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tdYWTgtRlXg/VAUgF9m6SnI/AAAAAAAAQGw/e_KCRjxUru4/s1600/IMG_0790sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>It helps to fold the book in half for this next step just to help you see where the spine is. Fold it, and then lay it out, with the inside face up. Run a line of piping gel right along the spine.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QCpZNIP2I2s/VAUgGwOwRNI/AAAAAAAAQG4/gDuqo4lsTL8/s1600/IMG_0791sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QCpZNIP2I2s/VAUgGwOwRNI/AAAAAAAAQG4/gDuqo4lsTL8/s1600/IMG_0791sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And then "glue" your pages inside. The fun part about this is that the book can be somewhat opened to see the individual pages inside.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SBDxbojydc0/VAUgHAjy5kI/AAAAAAAAQG8/ALpCLtqdI28/s1600/IMG_0792sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SBDxbojydc0/VAUgHAjy5kI/AAAAAAAAQG8/ALpCLtqdI28/s1600/IMG_0792sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Because the covers are made with fondant, they edges tend to get a little ragged with handling.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bIe4iOfyjTU/VAUgHu7lFdI/AAAAAAAAQHE/h_6_1wxDZpQ/s1600/IMG_0795sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bIe4iOfyjTU/VAUgHu7lFdI/AAAAAAAAQHE/h_6_1wxDZpQ/s1600/IMG_0795sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Simply tap the edges on your table top, and that will push in any fondant that may have squished beyond the wafer paper edge and kind of even things out a bit. You'll want to do this on all three of the cut edges.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPeAQOCcCgU/VAUgIcSP7hI/AAAAAAAAQHQ/TW7CV3LbRfM/s1600/IMG_0796sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPeAQOCcCgU/VAUgIcSP7hI/AAAAAAAAQHQ/TW7CV3LbRfM/s1600/IMG_0796sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>&nbsp;Ta-da! Nice and smooth.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V90bx8yE8vI/VAUgIjVaoWI/AAAAAAAAQHU/-DB2d-zYK18/s1600/IMG_0798sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V90bx8yE8vI/VAUgIjVaoWI/AAAAAAAAQHU/-DB2d-zYK18/s1600/IMG_0798sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>And there you have it. Lots of cute mini books to decorate with. These can be made several days ahead to make things easier on baking/decorating day.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ywjb0fRACcM/VAUgJFLPaKI/AAAAAAAAQHc/u2sOxlh-6Z0/s1600/IMG_0811sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ywjb0fRACcM/VAUgJFLPaKI/AAAAAAAAQHc/u2sOxlh-6Z0/s1600/IMG_0811sm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>If you don't have an edible printer, I've heard there are places where you can send your picture and they will print it for you. I just don't know who they are. You could also simply wrap the wafer paper pages with fondant, let it dry a bit and paint your book cover with food coloring or edible pens. A Bible would be pretty easy to do with this technique as you would really only have to draw a cross on it.<br /><br />I hope this tutorial will be of help. These really are fun to make, and there's just something about miniature things that are just so fun to play with. :o)<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!<br /><br />Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-42725515348302597032014-06-19T17:49:00.000-07:002014-10-02T12:27:50.618-07:00Knights in Shining Armor--Icing Smiles Cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thank you for the sweet comments and thoughts on my <a href="http://tammysfrostedmemories.blogspot.com/2014/06/in-memory.html" target="_blank">last post</a>. We do still miss Cindi, but I am enjoying getting to know her kids and grand kids through this awesome thing we call social networking. Just wish they would hurry up and invent some kind of teleporter so we could visit each other more often. :o)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I know I've been pretty terrible at posting here, and it's usually because life is pretty busy. Busy with home schooling, making cakes, taking care of the house, making cakes, yard work, more cakes. I think you get the idea. Anyway, we are done with our school year and I have 2 cake-free weeks, so I thought this would be a good time to try and catch up here a bit.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This cake was done a couple of months ago for <a href="http://www.icingsmiles.org/" target="_blank">Icing Smiles</a>. This is the second time I've been able to do a cake for them. You can see my first one <a href="http://tammysfrostedmemories.blogspot.com/2014/03/emmas-rainbow.html" target="_blank">here</a>. This time I was asked to do a cake for the siblings of the sick child and it happened to be for two brothers. They wanted a "knight in shining armor" theme and I was pretty much given free reign to do what I wanted. I only wish I hadn't been so swamped with other cakes that week and would have been able to put more details in. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RFS3E2Svd0Y/U6N5hNtJKZI/AAAAAAAAO70/s0SWp3qMzd0/s1600/IMG_3687wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RFS3E2Svd0Y/U6N5hNtJKZI/AAAAAAAAO70/s0SWp3qMzd0/s1600/IMG_3687wm.jpg" height="640" width="588" /></a></div>My very first, ever castle cake was a disaster. It was in my early, early years as a decorator and I knew absolutely nothing about fondant. I decided to stack cupcakes and skewer them together for the turrets and just cover them with buttercream. Yeah, not such a great idea. I actually had two castles to make for that party...one for a girl and one for a boy. When we arrived, one of the boy's turrets was completely fallen down and ripped right down the middle. There was no saving it. I was nearly in tears when the dad ran back to his kid's room and brought out his toy knights and cannons. He quickly set them up by the cake and pronounced that castle as "under siege". He saved the day and probably my future as a decorator. :o)<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QT6o5jCK44o/U6N5hJFqkcI/AAAAAAAAO74/FnxMlFCC1gc/s1600/IMG_3691wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QT6o5jCK44o/U6N5hJFqkcI/AAAAAAAAO74/FnxMlFCC1gc/s1600/IMG_3691wm.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>This time I made the turrets of rice crispy treats and I am SOOO glad I did. I ended up driving down a horrible dirt road to deliver this and we had another downed turret. :o( Two downed knights as well, but since they were made from gumpaste with wire supports inside, they were fine. We just placed the turret back up and re-positioned the knights and we were good to go. :o) If I ever decide to do one of those amazing multi-tiered, turreted castles like <a href="http://www.mcgreevycakes.com/2014/06/02/goodbye-tomboy-hello-lil-princess/" target="_blank">this one</a>, I may just have heart attack getting it delivered. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3awpCglzLw0/U6N5hErZDXI/AAAAAAAAO8E/Eqzy485C71g/s1600/IMG_3692wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3awpCglzLw0/U6N5hErZDXI/AAAAAAAAO8E/Eqzy485C71g/s1600/IMG_3692wm.jpg" height="482" width="640" /></a></div>This story is about more than just cake though. These two brothers have two younger sisters, one of which has been very ill. She has been on dialysis for most of her life and desperately waiting for a new kidney. That prayer was answered yesterday as a complete stranger was willing to donate hers and they have finally been able to have the surgery. I've been so blessed to see how God has taken care of this little one and I pray she will continue to heal well and have no issues with the new kidney they've dubbed "Bruce". I also pray for the sweet lady who was willing to travel thousands of miles and undergo major surgery to give a piece of herself to this little girl. Amazing love there! Simply amazing. I am sure they would covet your prayers as well. You can read more about it and see updates&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ALL4MOORE" target="_blank"> here</a>.<br /><br />Well, I'm finding that my two weeks of cake-freeness is quickly slipping away, so I am going to close this and go do some fun crafty stuff (my other hobby :o).<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-39674199912652416532014-06-01T16:30:00.000-07:002014-10-02T12:28:05.949-07:00In Memory...Hello there. I'll be honest. I'm having a really hard time with this post. I almost didn't post it at all. I almost went through my computer and deleted all the photos of this cake, hoping maybe if the photos were gone all the bad memories would be too. It doesn't work that way, though, does it?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BC1d9me2MY4/U4u2bU6sFGI/AAAAAAAAOoQ/TvLtzPytVm0/s1600/IMG_2381wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BC1d9me2MY4/U4u2bU6sFGI/AAAAAAAAOoQ/TvLtzPytVm0/s1600/IMG_2381wm.jpg" height="640" width="489" /></a></div><br />March 21st I got up a bit early to snap some photos of this cake in the daylight since I was up late the night before finishing it and my hubby was taking it to Cindi, one of his co-workers, on his way to work. She had the day off because her family was coming to visit from out of state and had asked me to make this cake for her Son-in-Law to celebrate his birthday. They never had that celebration. I received a call that afternoon from my heart-broken husband. Cindi had gone to the store after Mike dropped off the cake. She was in an accident on her way home. She was pronounced dead at the scene.<br /><br />I have to say there was a huge amount of sadness and crying here, but there was a lot of good things too. I guess there really was a celebration, just not the one Cindi had planned for. Instead, we celebrated her. We laughed, we cried, we reminisced, we cried some more. I can't possibly put in words what a wonderfully, amazing woman Cindi was. I had only known her for the past 5 years, but in that time, she had become very special to us as a family. I will always remember her smile, her laugh and her joy.<br /><br />I finally decided that I needed to blog about this cake because I think there are things Cindi would like everyone to know. The first one, and I'm sure you've heard this many times before, is that you have no idea how much time you have left on this earth. Are you ready for eternity? I'm so glad to know that Cindi was. While I still cry for her at times, (for some reason it seems to always be while I'm washing dishes), I am so excited to know she is up in heaven with our Father, worshiping and praising Him.<br /><br />What about you? What if it had been you in that car? Where would you be right now? I've blogged about this on my<a href="http://tammyjapan.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-letter-2013.html" target="_blank"> family blog</a>. The Bible teaches that God created us and He loves us. He wants us to love and worship Him, but in order for it to be true love and worship, He had to give us free will. It's not love if isn't our free will. But that means we have choices-to love God, or to sin. Sin simply means not pleasing God and the Bible teaches that we ALL sin (Romans 3:23). While He's a loving God, He is also a just God and His judgement for sin is eternity in hell. Eternity is a long, LONG time. He knew we could never be good enough. We can never work our way into heaven. No matter how much you go to church, or do good things, there will always be sin. We need help, so He provided that help by sending down Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for us. He was perfect. He never sinned, and He loved us so much He was willing to pay the price for our sin for us and die in our place. Salvation is a free gift, but, like any gift, you have to receive it. It isn't automatic. God wants you to:<br /><b>A</b>dmit you are a sinner and <b>A</b>sk for forgiveness<br /><b>B</b>elieve Jesus is God's Son, He died for you and rose again<br /><b>C</b>ommit your life to Him. Allow Him to be not only Savior, but Lord of your life<br />and <b>D</b>on't delay...you have no idea how much time you have left.<br /><br />The second message is for those who know Christ as their Savior. One of Cindi's daughter's made a comment to Mike and I. She said, "I want you two to know how special you were to Mom. You were Jesus to her." I was taken aback by the comment. Mike and I hadn't done anything special. She was our friend. We loved her like we loved our other friends, but we weren't aware of things that had happened to her in the past and what a hard time she had had. We just loved her, and we didn't realize what an impact that love had on her. Her daughter told us of comments she'd made during their phone calls and the change she'd seen in her mom over the last several years. A new joy she'd seen in her. It warms my heart to know that God used us to show love to her. We got to give "God Hugs" and didn't even realize we were doing it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that what you do (or don't do) makes a difference in other's lives. You may not know it (we didn't), but God can use you to help someone through a rough time and bring some joy into their lives. You can give "God Hugs" too. I, for one, plan on asking God to show me where He wants me to be helping and "hugging" others for Him.<br /><br />Well, now that my keyboard is all wet, I should close this and find a tissue box. I do pray for you that if you're not sure of your salvation, find a good, Bible believing church (and unfortunately there are many out there that do not follow the Bible) and talk with a pastor. Or, better yet, find a Bible, open it up to Romans and read. Ask God to help you and He will.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings.Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-68471888551522010672014-04-08T14:55:00.000-07:002014-10-02T12:28:37.142-07:00Planes, Trains and AutomobilesHello there and welcome again to my sweet little corner of the web. We've had some extreme ups and downs the last couple of weeks. I have another post for a more recent cake, but I'm still working on that one. It's a tough one to write about. Anyway, since I've been doing a lot of masculine themed cakes recently I thought I would continue that theme with some of the cakes I've done in the last year.<br /><br />This first cake pretty much speaks for itself. I was given the toy to use as a model. I made the plane from rice crispy treat and covered it in fondant and gumpaste.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LoijI6DrFxM/U0RomUqzwAI/AAAAAAAAMGA/qaO_FohBZII/s1600/IMG_0537wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LoijI6DrFxM/U0RomUqzwAI/AAAAAAAAMGA/qaO_FohBZII/s1600/IMG_0537wm.jpg" height="451" width="640" /></a></div>This is one of the few cakes that I've carved. I stacked the cake and then carved a ramp for the train to go up. My friend wanted a train car for each of the party goers to have so I made them from modeling chocolate rather than gumpaste. I really do need to work on scale though. I often find that my decorations are too big or too small for the cake. This one was just on the border of being too big.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_JmpCmLq5dY/U0Rovw_Ux7I/AAAAAAAAMGc/m3pgkO-idSQ/s1600/IMG_8170-crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_JmpCmLq5dY/U0Rovw_Ux7I/AAAAAAAAMGc/m3pgkO-idSQ/s1600/IMG_8170-crop.jpg" height="640" width="609" /></a></div>I used wax paper as my template to know where to cut the cake.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WXPlBGDYY0U/U0Rtcay46jI/AAAAAAAAMG8/jXzg4lNZcnw/s1600/IMG_8149wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WXPlBGDYY0U/U0Rtcay46jI/AAAAAAAAMG8/jXzg4lNZcnw/s1600/IMG_8149wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Covered in buttercream.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aB8CuOWHI9w/U0RtcXVY2EI/AAAAAAAAMGw/MSfS_F1H-70/s1600/IMG_8150wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aB8CuOWHI9w/U0RtcXVY2EI/AAAAAAAAMGw/MSfS_F1H-70/s1600/IMG_8150wm.jpg" height="449" width="640" /></a></div>And finally in ganache. This took some time to get nice and smooth. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ws_oHIK0EO4/U0Rtcf1NZ4I/AAAAAAAAMG0/DDBq-o4tOnY/s1600/IMG_8154wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ws_oHIK0EO4/U0Rtcf1NZ4I/AAAAAAAAMG0/DDBq-o4tOnY/s1600/IMG_8154wm.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></div><br />And, my favorite. I used <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Animation-Sugar-Beautifully-Hand-crafted-Celebration/dp/1905113358/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1396992498&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=carlos+lischetti+animation+in+sugar" target="_blank">Carlos Lischetti's book, Animation in Sugar</a>&nbsp;to model the car on this one. In the book, the car is a cake, but I made it smaller and used rice crispy treat for it instead. He provides all the patterns for the many, many pieces.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GZwj3PobsT4/U0RorCD-DuI/AAAAAAAAMGQ/PMoCzCjYpPg/s1600/IMG_7703wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GZwj3PobsT4/U0RorCD-DuI/AAAAAAAAMGQ/PMoCzCjYpPg/s1600/IMG_7703wm.jpg" height="640" width="632" /></a></div>Here's some of the pieces after their paint job. The tread on the tires was hand piped with royal icing. That took a while!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VY3SYYwJ028/U0RrkS8289I/AAAAAAAAMGk/Rm5snsxBakE/s1600/IMG_7674wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VY3SYYwJ028/U0RrkS8289I/AAAAAAAAMGk/Rm5snsxBakE/s1600/IMG_7674wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>I was extremely happy with how this turned out.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z-hE2tLYjMQ/U0RorFlc4zI/AAAAAAAAMGU/7A6KidcjBdQ/s1600/IMG_7705wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z-hE2tLYjMQ/U0RorFlc4zI/AAAAAAAAMGU/7A6KidcjBdQ/s1600/IMG_7705wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Well, I've got more cake to work on so I better close this here. I will do my best to finish my other post and show you some masculine cakes I've been working on more recently.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-30138238819356695012014-03-19T08:22:00.001-07:002014-10-02T12:28:53.439-07:00Emma's RainbowHello there! If you follow my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frosted-Memories/546516588699720?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>, you are aware that the last few weeks has been "guy month" in my kitchen...knives, shotgun shells, snowmobiles and tractors. I think I need to make something pink and sparkly next week. ;o) Till then, I thought I'd share this pretty cake with you.<br /><br />I actually can't believe I haven't posted this cake yet. It was one of my favorite ones to do last year. It was done for <a href="http://www.icingsmiles.org/" target="_blank">Icing Smiles</a>.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: #fcfbf8; color: #594939; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.419998168945313px; text-align: justify;">Icing Smiles is a nonprofit organization that provides custom celebration cakes and other treats to families impacted by the critical illness of a child. (From the Icing Smiles site)</span><br /><br />I was so excited when I got an email asking me if I could do a cake for little Emma. I designed the cake around several things her mom told me were special to Emma--pretty flowers, rainbows, a heart and her new stuffed puppy.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-orNi7aRXw2o/Uymwo8rQimI/AAAAAAAAMFE/sg7WaPgMZY4/s1600/IMG_20130822_161814wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-orNi7aRXw2o/Uymwo8rQimI/AAAAAAAAMFE/sg7WaPgMZY4/s1600/IMG_20130822_161814wm.jpg" height="640" width="416" /></a></div>The rainbow was made with gumpaste and dried flat. I attached lollipop sticks to the back to insert into the cake once it was dried. The puppy was made from fondant. I think this was one of the first cakes I used my new Tappits on too. Love those.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ifFIuc3OL0/Uymwo3b-L6I/AAAAAAAAMFM/O6HR0f7KOY0/s1600/IMG_20130822_114117wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ifFIuc3OL0/Uymwo3b-L6I/AAAAAAAAMFM/O6HR0f7KOY0/s1600/IMG_20130822_114117wm.jpg" height="377" width="640" /></a></div>Emmas' mom gave me permission to post this photo. This, my friends, is what it's all about. That smile. This is why I love baking, to give a blessing to someone else and give them a smile.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s6droE6pd3M/Uymwo7ZhndI/AAAAAAAAMFU/nRdkzjbVygI/s1600/2wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s6droE6pd3M/Uymwo7ZhndI/AAAAAAAAMFU/nRdkzjbVygI/s1600/2wm.jpg" height="412" width="640" /></a></div>So blessed to get to do this cake and looking forward to doing another one for Icing Smiles in May. Well, I've got a tractor waiting for its tires to be attached. Guess I better get in the kitchen. :o)<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-22492184313725092352014-03-15T12:29:00.000-07:002015-02-06T18:59:04.099-08:00Wafer Paper Flower TutorialHello there! Welcome again to my sweet little corner of the web. I'm here to show you a cool new cakey medium. Well, it's new to me anyway. I'd heard about it a while ago, but didn't know where to find any or how to use it, so the ideas were filed in the already-too-full head of mine, until now. Thank you, <a href="http://www.craftsy.com/class/delicate-wafer-paper-cakes/515?_ct=iuqhsx-kdyluhiqb-huikbj-sekhiu&amp;_ctp=515" target="_blank">Craftsy</a> for a new addiction. In case you didn't figure it out by the post title, it's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rectangle-Rice-Wafer-Paper-11/dp/B00024WNVI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1394907813&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=wafer+paper" target="_blank">wafer paper</a>. I've included a link to where you can get some so you can get addicted to it too. You're welcome. :o)<br /><br />This medium is a blend of two of my favorite hobbies--paper crafting and cakes. After taking a <a href="http://www.craftsy.com/class/delicate-wafer-paper-cakes/515?_ct=iuqhsx-kdyluhiqb-huikbj-sekhiu&amp;_ctp=515" target="_blank">Craftsy class</a>, to get familiar with it, I soon realized that with a little tweaking, my paper crafts could now become edible! Fun! Below you can see two flowers I made using a<a href="http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=125603&amp;dbwsdemoid=2120166" target="_blank"> paper punch from Stampin Up</a>!. The one on the left is made with card stock, and the one on the right is wafer paper.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_WnS1bKQoIw/UyScnNgURSI/AAAAAAAAMCc/mB1TjdpO31c/s1600/IMG_2356wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_WnS1bKQoIw/UyScnNgURSI/AAAAAAAAMCc/mB1TjdpO31c/s1600/IMG_2356wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>And guess what? I took pictures when I made these so I could share with you how I did it, in case you'd like to be able to make these super cute flowers yourself. Wouldn't they look adorable on cupcakes? So, let's get started.<br /><br />Here's what you'll need:<br /><a href="http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=125603&amp;dbwsdemoid=2120166" target="_blank">Stampin' Up! Blossom punch</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rectangle-Rice-Wafer-Paper-11/dp/B00024WNVI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1394908646&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=wafer+paper" target="_blank">wafer paper</a><br />scissors<br />petal dust (optional)<br />clean paintbrushes<br />water<br />Ignore the piping gel you see in the photo. I ended up not using it.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9kmkv2lIG1A/UySLMkTR43I/AAAAAAAAMA0/FWS3Kwua92w/s1600/IMG_2330wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9kmkv2lIG1A/UySLMkTR43I/AAAAAAAAMA0/FWS3Kwua92w/s1600/IMG_2330wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>First you will need to punch out 6 flowers with the punch. The paper is super easy to punch through. Then use your scissors to snip between the petals a bit. I stacked all 6 together and cut through them pretty easily.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEMk3z4s3KY/UySLMtjzywI/AAAAAAAAMAs/Ni1rwMB1zIY/s1600/IMG_2332wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEMk3z4s3KY/UySLMtjzywI/AAAAAAAAMAs/Ni1rwMB1zIY/s1600/IMG_2332wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Now, with card stock, you would roll the petals around your paint brush handle, but that doesn't work well with wafer paper. It can be a bit brittle and break too easily for that. Instead, take a SMALL amount of water on your paintbrush and gently brush along the edges of each petal on the smooth side of the paper (that's the front). I've highlighted in pink on this flower so you can see where I brushed the water. At first, the petals will begin to curl away from the side you put the water on, but that's OK. Just wait a bit and they will start curling the opposite way.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qsuykF81W00/UySLM4AQhqI/AAAAAAAAMAw/429a5MadHDQ/s1600/IMG_2334wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qsuykF81W00/UySLM4AQhqI/AAAAAAAAMAw/429a5MadHDQ/s1600/IMG_2334wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Here you can see the flowers in the back were the first ones I brushed and they are starting to curl up. The bottom left one is the last one I brushed and it is still curling down here.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GLM-ZdCwARk/UySLN0FHPII/AAAAAAAAMBE/rbI3BYq2F98/s1600/IMG_2336wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GLM-ZdCwARk/UySLN0FHPII/AAAAAAAAMBE/rbI3BYq2F98/s1600/IMG_2336wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Take the first flower that you brushed. It should be still somewhat wet and flexible, but not gooey. You may find that you need to re-snip between the petals if they are stuck together. Put a tiny bit of water on one edge of one petal and roll it around your paint brush. Hold a second till it sticks and then remove the brush.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UVlBmRgQtik/UySLOmG81oI/AAAAAAAAMBQ/MUwM-ZiQpAQ/s1600/IMG_2338wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UVlBmRgQtik/UySLOmG81oI/AAAAAAAAMBQ/MUwM-ZiQpAQ/s1600/IMG_2338wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Now take the opposite petal and brush a tiny bit of water on both edges, bring the petal up and glue it to the first petal.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i5dI9xGUARA/UySLO-NXmpI/AAAAAAAAMBM/S0r-StYyTKk/s1600/IMG_2339wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i5dI9xGUARA/UySLO-NXmpI/AAAAAAAAMBM/S0r-StYyTKk/s1600/IMG_2339wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Take two opposite petals, apply a tiny bit of water on the edges of one petal and glue the two together around the first two petals.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zMYYJQb3hdw/UySLPXqJA6I/AAAAAAAAMBY/KV-15UyMFr8/s1600/IMG_2340wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zMYYJQb3hdw/UySLPXqJA6I/AAAAAAAAMBY/KV-15UyMFr8/s1600/IMG_2340wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>And do the same with the last two petals. These two may need glue on both petals as they may not meet all the way. There, your center is finished.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XRY0AEmFkro/UySLPyoFtoI/AAAAAAAAMBk/AnBZD5TRTk0/s1600/IMG_2342wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XRY0AEmFkro/UySLPyoFtoI/AAAAAAAAMBk/AnBZD5TRTk0/s1600/IMG_2342wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>To help the petals fill out a bit on the remaining flowers, take a little water and apply it to the base of the petals on two flowers. Again, I highlighted this in pink. This will cause them to curl up a bit. These two should be on top of the stack you will do in the next step.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iAfQiAraAPQ/UySLQQuMyFI/AAAAAAAAMBo/QBz8iByWvnM/s1600/IMG_2343wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iAfQiAraAPQ/UySLQQuMyFI/AAAAAAAAMBo/QBz8iByWvnM/s1600/IMG_2343wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Now, apply a little water to the middle of a flower and stack another one on top, staggering the petals. Keep doing this for the remaining flowers till they're all stacked. and "glue" your center in the middle.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lDur-SNUDBM/UySLQ-NoL0I/AAAAAAAAMB0/PAVUmdoi7sE/s1600/IMG_2344wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lDur-SNUDBM/UySLQ-NoL0I/AAAAAAAAMB0/PAVUmdoi7sE/s1600/IMG_2344wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Very gently gather the petals up a bit. You may need to add a little more water at the base of specific petals to help them lift up. If you hold them for a minute or so they will dry and hold their shape.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eguE9zXtSt4/UySLRkLk1yI/AAAAAAAAMB8/9qnLGm9r4BQ/s1600/IMG_2347wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eguE9zXtSt4/UySLRkLk1yI/AAAAAAAAMB8/9qnLGm9r4BQ/s1600/IMG_2347wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>Then you can use the petal dust of your choice to add some color to your flower. You could even use Wilton Color Mist or an airbrush if you have one of those for cakes.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YSmPOX2kZ4E/UySLRx08GsI/AAAAAAAAMCA/EOPAXFmGLCA/s1600/IMG_2349wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YSmPOX2kZ4E/UySLRx08GsI/AAAAAAAAMCA/EOPAXFmGLCA/s1600/IMG_2349wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>All finished. Isn't it pretty? It almost looks like a peony in this photo.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oeQD1JDC1to/UySLSbQNCmI/AAAAAAAAMCM/j5rfCr524mQ/s1600/IMG_2351wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oeQD1JDC1to/UySLSbQNCmI/AAAAAAAAMCM/j5rfCr524mQ/s1600/IMG_2351wm.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>What do you think? My head is swimming with ideas with this new medium. Just wish there was more time in my day to get to play. :o) By the way, if you're interested in the card stock flower, I posted a <a href="http://wearecraftedinhisimage.blogspot.com/2014/03/3d-blossom-punch-flower-tutorial.html" target="_blank">tutorial</a> for it on my craft blog. You can check it out here.<br /><br />I will leave you with a picture of my first wafer paper cake project. I made this for a church fellowship. They always get to be my guinea pigs when I come up with new ideas. :o) The flowers are wafer paper, as are the stripes on the side of the cake. This was a dark chocolate/orange cake with almond/orange buttercream. Yum!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XY8n87WBwJ8/UySjHQFEO0I/AAAAAAAAMCw/arBMFt_3ok8/s1600/IMG_2017wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XY8n87WBwJ8/UySjHQFEO0I/AAAAAAAAMCw/arBMFt_3ok8/s1600/IMG_2017wm.jpg" height="400" width="296" /></a></div>Well, gotta go finish some chocolate snowmobiles and a John Deere tractor.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!<br /><br />Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-22325545238491797252014-02-22T13:20:00.002-08:002014-02-22T13:20:41.092-08:00Fairy CakesHello there! Thanks for visiting my sweet blog today. I've not been very busy with cakes the last week, so this gives me a chance to showcase some of the ones I missed posting about last year.<br /><br />With all the snow outside, and spring around the corner, I thought I'd share the two flower-filled fairy cakes that I did for two sweet little girls. The first one is modeled after <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41132251@N06/7334642002/in/set-72157627114153947" target="_blank">this cake</a> by bubolinkata. Her cakes and cookies are AMAZING!!!! I loved the design of the cake and the fairy's dress, but since this cake had to travel across state lines, I knew my fairy would need to be sitting down. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gMLtV8uhNUY/UwgMLjfPgaI/AAAAAAAAL7A/1dd8vP1vL9c/s1600/IMG_0365wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gMLtV8uhNUY/UwgMLjfPgaI/AAAAAAAAL7A/1dd8vP1vL9c/s1600/IMG_0365wm.jpg" height="385" width="400" /></a></div>I did use a mold for the body that I was given by my Mom who did cakes when I was a little girl, but I used techniques I learned from <a href="http://www.craftsy.com/class/cake-topper-techniques-figure-modeling/253" target="_blank">Craftsy's Cake Topper Techniques Class</a> to make the clothes and hair. Painting faces still gets me nervous. I mean, what fairy wants two different size eyes, or crooked lips? I have learned that a little lemon extract can be used as an "eraser" in emergencies. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fbgj-ELTYug/UwgMLi52L_I/AAAAAAAAL68/y45KA6vBwnQ/s1600/IMG_0354wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fbgj-ELTYug/UwgMLi52L_I/AAAAAAAAL68/y45KA6vBwnQ/s1600/IMG_0354wm.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>The next cake is one of my favorites of this past year. I was asked to do a "woodland fairy" cake. Um, yes, please. My head was immediately spinning with all kinds of fun details to add to the cake. The hard part was narrowing it down so it wouldn't be critter overkill. :o)<br /><br />Every woodland fairy needs a tree trunk house to live in, so I used fondant logs to shape the outline of the window and door along with the roots, and then draped more fondant over the top and used a veining tool to add lots of bark details. After I took this picture, I added some lighter fondant to the top for the inner rings and did some shading with petal dust to give it a little life. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d4rwUfxRXA4/UwgMrI_pE_I/AAAAAAAAL7E/HcUSLbIvpJg/s1600/IMG_7915wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d4rwUfxRXA4/UwgMrI_pE_I/AAAAAAAAL7E/HcUSLbIvpJg/s1600/IMG_7915wm.jpg" height="310" width="400" /></a></div>Then I had fun adding the fairies, flowers and critters. There were ladybugs, caterpillars, bumblebees, snails and butterflies. I thought the fairies needed a little extra room so I added a rice krispy mushroom house on top. There were flowers everywhere and even sunflower seed doorhandles. I just wanted to shrink down and open that door to see what was inside the house. (If I remember correctly that was a strawberry lemonade cake with chocolate ganache in there. Yum!)<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kez6PSdSSNE/UwgMrWfol2I/AAAAAAAAL7U/ZjitxkMy9HA/s1600/IMG_7976wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kez6PSdSSNE/UwgMrWfol2I/AAAAAAAAL7U/ZjitxkMy9HA/s1600/IMG_7976wm.jpg" height="400" width="293" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uUjbRTJbQG8/UwgMrQTJkHI/AAAAAAAAL7Y/U9iPScaoV9U/s1600/IMG_7987wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uUjbRTJbQG8/UwgMrQTJkHI/AAAAAAAAL7Y/U9iPScaoV9U/s1600/IMG_7987wm.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>My favorite part though were these two little fairies. The one on top is unaware that she's not only watering her garden, but her little friend as well. :o) <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-un5vuAVTOmg/UwgPjgVPGLI/AAAAAAAAL7o/carD-xaFC1c/s1600/IMG_7974wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-un5vuAVTOmg/UwgPjgVPGLI/AAAAAAAAL7o/carD-xaFC1c/s1600/IMG_7974wm.jpg" height="400" width="246" /></a></div>So, so, so much fun to do.<br /><br />Till next time...<br />O <span class="criteria">taste</span> <span class="criteria">and</span> <span class="criteria">see</span> that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him. Psalm 34:8Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-65511578973130141442014-02-13T08:37:00.000-08:002014-02-13T08:37:27.222-08:00Minnie Mouse Cakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It seems that Minnie Mouse is quite popular with little ones right now. Here's three that I've done in the last 6 months. The first one I was given a picture and asked to replicate, the other two I was given free reign to design what I wanted. I think the middle one is my favorite, but I like the "bloomers" peeking out of the bottom one too. ;o) Which one do you like best?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RAewzK985DA/UvzzkEqslKI/AAAAAAAAL2o/bHL1Y6CHfpM/s1600/IMG_8630wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RAewzK985DA/UvzzkEqslKI/AAAAAAAAL2o/bHL1Y6CHfpM/s1600/IMG_8630wm.jpg" height="320" width="184" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-igPdT4wvaRI%2FUvzzPRosJ8I%2FAAAAAAAAL2Y%2FCdWIPiky6g0%2Fs1600%2FIMG_1226wm.jpg&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-igPdT4wvaRI/UvzzPRosJ8I/AAAAAAAAL2Y/CdWIPiky6g0/s1600/IMG_1226wm.jpg" height="320" width="310" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1glfrEjlgjM/UvzzR6s1PnI/AAAAAAAAL2g/eAHfgDvliqE/s1600/IMG_1325wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1glfrEjlgjM/UvzzR6s1PnI/AAAAAAAAL2g/eAHfgDvliqE/s1600/IMG_1325wm.jpg" height="320" width="244" /></a></div><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!<br /><br /><br />Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216215888639063002.post-7785941238177347922014-01-30T09:32:00.000-08:002014-02-09T20:44:09.791-08:00Painted CakesI'm back with some more of last year's cakes. This time I thought I'd show you some painted cakes. I took <a href="http://www.craftsy.com/class/the-hand-painted-cake/180?_ct=sbqii-sqjuweho-qbb&amp;_ctp=180,1" target="_blank">The Hand Painted Cake</a> course on Craftsy a while ago. This is one of their free classes, so feel free to go check it out. One thing I do differently than the video though is that I use food grade airbrush colors rather than regular food colors. They don't need to be watered down with lemon extract as much and they blend much nicer. <br /><br />This is one of the first ones I did. This cake was purely an "accident".&nbsp; Well, it was inspired by one anyway. Mike and I were driving home from delivering a cake on a rainy afternoon when a young buck couldn't decide which way he wanted to go across the street. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong way. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt and neither was our vehicle, but as we stopped to check for damage, I noticed the beautiful lilies in the pond next to us. I was thankful that my camera was in the van and snapped a couple of photos. My husband kids that only I could turn a deer collision into a photo-op. :o)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IxnyDzLxynM/UuqEWz7aMJI/AAAAAAAAL1I/ZMiwl6W7FO0/s1600/IMG_8186wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IxnyDzLxynM/UuqEWz7aMJI/AAAAAAAAL1I/ZMiwl6W7FO0/s1600/IMG_8186wm.jpg" height="342" width="400" /></a></div><br />I looked up tutorials for making water lilies, but didn't like the results of them, so I just played around. I cut a pattern from cardstock with my Silhouette and used it for the petals and cut them out with an x-acto blade.&nbsp; Then I just played around with shaping the petals and used tissue between them to space them out till the gumpaste hardened.<br /><br />The scene on this next one was inspired from a painting book I have: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/From-Market-Fabulous-Kerry-Trout/dp/1581800924" target="_blank"><i>From Flea Market to Fabulous </i></a>by Kerry Trout.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTipkNy_NKw/UuqDX3vKFNI/AAAAAAAAL08/m2w2fC_2-8w/s1600/IMG_0909wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTipkNy_NKw/UuqDX3vKFNI/AAAAAAAAL08/m2w2fC_2-8w/s1600/IMG_0909wm.jpg" height="363" width="400" /></a></div><br />As you can see, it was for a gentlemen celebrating his 95th birthday. I tried to make the tractor look a bit vintage, more like the ones he would have used in his early day. Even though church and the subsequent party for this young man were canceled due to the extreme cold that day, we took this on over to him with a couple other brave souls to celebrate. It's not every day you get to celebrate your 95th birthday!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C9lmh2U1uBo/UuqDtIxoZCI/AAAAAAAAL1E/ydonCQSd0-c/s1600/IMG_0920wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C9lmh2U1uBo/UuqDtIxoZCI/AAAAAAAAL1E/ydonCQSd0-c/s1600/IMG_0920wm.jpg" height="400" width="331" /></a></div><br />I will leave you with a sneak peak of the cake I'm currently working on. This is Peggy. Isn't she cute?! I used another tutorial from <a href="http://www.mcgreevycakes.com/" target="_blank">McGreevy Cakes</a>. This lady has some awesome cake skills!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vOa8XqRfkZs/UuqJ_Z6piQI/AAAAAAAAL1Y/EZg43uzncLA/s1600/IMG_1235wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vOa8XqRfkZs/UuqJ_Z6piQI/AAAAAAAAL1Y/EZg43uzncLA/s1600/IMG_1235wm.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div><br />Well, it's time for lunch and another Wii Party match with my daughter. Gotta go! <br /><br />Till next time...<br />God's love and blessings!Tammy Hendersonhttps://plus.google.com/100751593217685601738noreply@blogger.com0